Don't Let the Boogieman Bite
by Naiallah
Summary: After an encounter with a new villain goes horribly wrong, each of the Titans start suffering from reoccurring nightmares – although Raven and Beast Boy seem to be worse off than the others. As sleeplessness, a criminal on the loose, and terrifying dreams become too much for the team to handle they must either find solace in each other or fall apart. RaeBB and some RobStar.
1. Asleep in the Streets

**Hey guys! So this is the first chapter to what will hopefully be a long and awesome titans fic, but based on the reception I get (or lack of, haha), I'm not sure if I'll continue. Please read and review! Any feedback is good feedback! :)**

**And here we go!**

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"Friend Cyborg, do you require assistance in the preparation of breakfast?" asked a red haired teenager, who was exceedingly enthusiastic for having just woken up. She watched the half boy, half bot from the other side of the counter as he flipped another waffle onto the pile of countless others.

"Eh, no thanks, Star, I'm almost done," he replied uneasily. As happy as Starfire was to help out with the cooking, her teammates were not nearly as thrilled to eat whatever disaster she always seemed to whip up. "Maybe ask boy wonder over there if he needs some help."

Not at all discouraged, Starfire floated over to her other teammate, who had been bent down at the table, looking over some reports since she had first entered the room that morning. "Robin, do you, perhaps, wish for aid in looking at papers?"

Robin muttered something unintelligible, engrossed in his work. Starfire sighed to herself, bored and hoping for something to do. The only other Titan in the room was sitting on the couch by herself, as focused on her book as Robin was with his work, and it was well known by the team that Raven was not to be interrupted when she was reading.

Seconds later, Starfire was relieved of her momentary boredom when the doors slid open with a _whoosh_, signaling the entrance of the final team member, Beast Boy.

"Hey, 'bout time you woke up, grass stain, it's breakfast time!" greeted Cyborg, with a very tired Beast Boy waving in mid stretch for a response.

"Glorious! Friend Beast Boy has awoken! I trust you slept well?" called Starfire, rushing to her friend to give his one of her crushing hugs.

He laughed and pretended to try and push her away. "Hey Star, and yeah, I felt like I was hibernating," he told her, promptly shifting into a large green bear to emphasize his point.

"Might as well have been hibernating, to wake up at this hour," spoke the figure on the couch in her usual monotone.

The green boy laughed as if she'd intended it as a joke. "Oh, come on Rae, you know how much I like my sleep. It's good for your skin, and for someone with a great complexion like mine, it'd be a shame not to get some beauty sleep." He pretended to smooth down his hair and wink at Starfire, if only to further his joke.

"You're green," she replied flatly, "And I'm in no way insinuating that you should wake up any sooner. I rather enjoy the extra time I get without you being in the room. And don't call me Rae."

Wanting to change the topic before Raven lost her little amount of patience she had left, Cyborg called everyone to the kitchen. "Alright guys, come and get some waffles before I finish them all myself!"

Beast Boy raced into the kitchen to receive his own strange vegan entrée as Starfire dragged a reluctant Robin to their own seats. "I was almost done," the leader mumbled as Starfire pulled him along.

Raven remained seated, calmly sipping her herbal tea. The four other teenagers sat down and began to devour the mountain of waffles. It would only be some five minutes later before the pile had completely vanished. Beast Boy looked over at his purple teammate as she turned another page in the thick, dusty book propped open on her lap.

"Hey, Raven," he called, still chewing his latest monstrous bite, "Why don't you eat with us for once? I won't bite," he added with a food-filled grin.

"No, you wouldn't. Your mouth is too distracted at the moment." She didn't even look up from her book to answer him. "And there's no point in me sitting with the rest of you when I wouldn't be eating anything."

He still wouldn't give up. "Why don't you eat what everyone else is eating?"

"Why don't you?"

"My breakfast is way better than that." He said, taking in another mouthful to prove it.

"So is mine," she deadpanned.

He rolled his eyes at her. "Tea is so not breakfast." She ignored him after that, taking another sip of her tea and obviously deciding not to get up from where she was sitting. A few moments later, Beast Boy decided that his effort was wasted so he turned back to his other friends, joining in on their conversation not at all hurt by what just happened. Raven was like that nearly every time they spoke, after all.

By the time the group had finished their breakfast and cleaned up, it was already the afternoon. Everyone milled about the room, falling into their usual activities. Raven had abandoned her book in favor of beginning her meditation routine, with Cyborg and Beast Boy playing videogames on her right. Robin was back to the reports from earlier that morning, but was joined this time by Starfire, who was determined to help him whether he wanted it or not.

All was normal for the team; a typical Wednesday.

"Aw, not again!" cried a dismayed changeling, sinking down into the couch as Cyborg was completing his victory dance. "Dude, you have to be cheating!"

Cyborg just laughed, used to his friends post-loss arguments at this point. "No way, man. Just admit that I'm way better than you at this."

"Are not! You're just lucky!"

"Lucky to not be you," he retorted, grinning. This made his green teammate groan in frustration. Beast Boy glanced around the room for a new opponent to replace the current gloating champion.

"Robin? Starfire? Either of you guys want to play me?" he called to his friends on the other side of the room. Robin waved him off.

"Not now, Beast Boy, I need to finish these before tonight, and I need Star's help," replied Robin. Star, who most likely would have been happy to play videogames against her teammate lit up at "_I need Star"_ and after that moment nothing would convince her to leave, not even the begging of a disheartened Beast Boy.

"Star? Please?" he pleaded.

She looked over at him, not comfortable with the word "no". "I am sorry, friend Beast Boy, but if Robin requires my assistance I should not leave."

Beast Boy sighed, but instantly lit up again when he remembered there was still one titan left in the room that he had yet to play against. "Rave–"

"No." She wouldn't let him finish.

"Oh, come on, _please_!"

"No."

"Why not?"

She opened her eyes from where she floated, making sure he knew that he was disrupting her meditation with one of her infamous glares. "Because," she said, "videogames are stupid, and have no point other than to blow up your enemies, which we already do on a daily basis. The only advantage they possess is the entertainment of small minded children, like yourself."

His pointed ears folded back slightly, visibly hurt. "Ouch, Raven. Cut the little guy some lack, he was just asking you to play a game with him," said Cyborg.

"He should have listened the first time I said no," she replied, unaffected.

"Yeah, sure, but he wasn't trying to irritate you, he just wanted you to have a little fun, too," said the half-bot.

Not one for apologies, she gracefully floated to her feet, picked her book back up from where she'd been sitting, and prepared herself to leave the room. "I'm going to find somewhere that I can meditate in _quiet_," she informed the two sitting on the couch, almost hissing the last word.

Before she could even make it to the door, the alarm went off, echoing in the room. It was battle time.

"Or not," Raven muttered to herself, irritated with how her day was going.

Robin was already on his feet, reports forgotten. He glanced at the scanner on his communicator. "It's downtown, corner of Main St. and 5th," he informed the team. They left the building quickly, known for being the fastest and most reliable respondents to every crime scene Jump City had. Today was no exception.

They arrived at the scene to find the streets suspiciously quiet. It wasn't hard to figure out why– sidewalks and stores were littered with people, all fast asleep. Cars were all stopped, engines still running, with their drivers and passengers completely unconscious as well. There was no sign of what caused it.

"Perhaps they were all very tired?" asked Starfire innocently, never one to assume the worst.

"No," replied Robin, eyebrows furrowed in deep thought, "Whoever we're looking for is probably the one who did this." He scanned the street they all stood on, and one of the pedestrians who slept, slouched on a bench at the bus stop by them seemed to catch his eye. The team leader walked over to the man, who looked to be in his late forties, and gave him a quick shake on the shoulder.

The man blinked slowly, and let out a long yawn, as if he was waking up from a very comfortable nap. "What's going on?" he asked, not fully aware of his surroundings.

"You're in downtown. Someone made everyone in this part of the city fall asleep. Do you know who's responsible?"

The man groggily looked to his left and then his right before remembering that he was asked a question. "Let me think for a second," said the man, resting his chin on his hand like he was trying hard to remember something. It wasn't before the man started making snoring sounds and his eyes had drooped shut again that the titans realized that he'd fallen back asleep.

"Hey!" yelled Robin, causing the man to jump back awake. "Please just tell us if know where the person responsible went."

The man scratched his head for a moment. "Um, yeah, I think he went over there, behind that blue building," he said, pointing behind the five heroes.

Without another word, the team ran in the direction the man had given them. They rounded the corner of the building and raced into its adjacent alleyway. At the end were two figures. One, a boy in his teens lay on the ground, sound asleep. The other, a peculiar man with a blue robe with assorted colored pouches tied on, nightcap, and fuzzy slippers, bent over the teen, his ear over the boy's forehead, a smile painted on his face.

"Um, dude, that's just weird," said a disturbed Beast Boy, with the rest of the team nodding their heads in agreement. This was not usual criminal behavior for them.

"Get away from the civilian!" demanded Robin, his staff already out and battle ready.

The robed man, seeing the titans, laughed and climbed to his feet. "Hey now, no need to get your feathers ruffled, Robin, I was only tuning in for some afternoon entertainment."

"Who are you, and how do you know my name?" the titan growled back.

"The Teen Titans are fairly well known, aren't they? Your names are common knowledge. As for myself, I am called the Boogieman." He was still smiling, making the entire team very uncomfortable.

"What were you doing to that kid over there?" asked Cyborg, his sonic cannon aimed and ready.

"I already told you, but if you insist I will repeat myself," answered the Boogieman. "I was only listening in."

It was Starfire's turn to ask a question. "What do you mean by this 'listening in?'"

"His dreams, my dear, I was listening to his dreams. It's much better than anything on T.V., and without any pesky commercials!"

"What kind of psycho criminal are you?" demanded Robin, angered even more at his pet name for Starfire.

"Psycho? I'm offended, really. I'm not even doing anything illegal, not technically, because there's no laws about it!"

Raven stepped forward to ask, "And you knocked out half of the city because?"

"Because I can!" replied the Boogieman, before nearly falling over in a fit of hysterics.

"Okay, I don't know how you were able to do any of this, but I've heard enough talk. Titans, go!" called out Robin, setting the team in motion.

Starfire and Cyborg were the first to take aim and fire at the man, the blasts of the cannon and energy bolts landing around the man in a flurry of motion, though they were careful not to hit the boy behind him. A cloud of dust and smoke concealed the bizarre villain, but Robin never gave it a chance to settle. He leapt into the mess, staff raised above his head. He disappeared into the smoke just as a loud _smack_ could be heard as the staff connected with something solid.

A few moments of silence stilled the rest of the team as they waited for their leader to reappear, and when he did, he was jumping out of the way as the Boogieman threw a handful of something from one of the colored pouches that were tied at his waist. They exploded dangerously close to the titan, and his teammates leapt to his defense. Beast Boy shifted into a kangaroo, taking a gigantic leap into the air in the villain's direction before shifting into a tiger, claws unsheathed and ready for the attack. Just as he was about land, the Boogieman took and handful of one of the other pouches and threw it at the ground. Almost instantly, the entire alleyway was covered with smoke, limiting the visibility of everyone. In the confusion, Beast Boy missed his target, unsure of where the man went.

The man popped up just behind Raven, who, quickly sensing his presence, threw a blast of black energy in his direction. It made contact, sending him flying into the nearby brick wall.

"Ooof!" he grunted at the hit, sliding back to the ground. Starfire, who was closest at that point, sent blast after blast of energy at the man, relentlessly. After she finally did stop, they realized that the Boogieman had pulled his robe over himself so that it completely covered his body, and to everyone's amazement, it had no signs of damage. Robin, deciding it must be fireproof of some sort, raced in with his staff, prepared to end the battle with a more physical approach.

Before he could land his blow, the Boogieman rolled away, throwing more the mysterious smoke-making powder as he did so. By the time the titans could find him through the smoke again, he was half a story high, standing on one of the building's fire escapes.

"Well, I assume that you children won't give up until you've caught me, and as I truly don't want that to happen, I'll just have to give you a distraction," he called down to them, reaching into a red pouch on his side.

Too late, Robin realized what he was doing. "Titans, move!" he called, but the Boogieman had already thrown the red powder. It hit all of the young heroes before they'd had any time to get out of the way. It threw them into a coughing frenzy, and left them unable to do anything but try and hack the stuff out of their lungs, giving the villain plenty of time to escape.

When they were finally able to breathe easy enough, Robin scanned for the Boogieman, with no results. "Alright, team, we need to find this guy before he does anything else. I don't care if it's not technically illegal; it's just plain wrong. Everyone split up and search the town except Starfire, I need you to take him–" he pointed to the teen still unconscious on the ground, "–to safety. Titans, go!"

With their orders, the team immediately spread out, leaving Starfire alone. She quickly walked over to the civilian, picked him up, and carried him bridal style out of the alleyway. Strength was not an issue in this case; she probably could have carried a bus in the same way if needed. As she walked on the sidewalk surrounding Main St., trying to find somewhere safe to put him, she realized that some of the other people were starting to wake up. Cars began to pull forward and return to their usual route while other pedestrians pushed themselves off the sidewalk and back onto their feet. As always, Jump City quickly returned to its usual activities.

In the other parts of town, Robin, Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Raven patrolled, searching every building they came across and looking for any signs of the Boogieman. By the time the sun was setting, to their frustration, they were no closer to finding the villain than when they first started out.

Glancing at his watch quickly, Robin stopped on the current rooftop he was racing across to pull out his communicator. He hit a few buttons and spoke into the device, "Okay, titans, that's enough for today. Head back to the tower."

Cyborg was the one to answer first. "Actually, why don't we stop by pizza on our way home? It's past dinner time and I'm starving from this goose chase."

Robin considered this for a moment. "Alright, sounds good. Everyone meet there in five minutes," he said before hitting a button to stop transmission.

Exactly five minutes later, Robin arrived at their usual pizza spot to find the rest of the team already there. The exhausted team collapsed at their table and ordered twice their usual amount of food. The pizzas, two pepperonis, two mushroom, tomato, and olive, and one vegan order, arrived fifteen minutes later. The teenagers crammed their mouths full before they began their usual debates on which pizzas were best. Only Raven remained quite, silently reprimanding herself for not bringing a book with her.

"How can you say that?" demanded a very defensive Beast Boy, "you've never even tried the vegan option!"

Cyborg rolled his eyes. "I don't need to taste it, when I can smell that stank all the way on this side of the table, BB. That's not real food."

"Don't knock it 'till you try it," the changeling insisted, but neither one seemed ready to give up. "Starfire said she liked it," he added finally.

"Starfire likes anything, some things that I'm not even sure are edible included," replied Cyborg, saying the last part quietly so that the red-haired girl might not hear. Luckily, it seemed she was too distracted by a side-conversation with Robin to notice.

Beast Boy pouted, he really just wanted someone to try his food. He turned to Raven, hoping she was worn out enough from the day that she wouldn't have sufficient energy to yell at him. "Rae, can you please try my pizza? Pretty please with a weird shaped chocolate candies you like on top?" he asked.

She glared at him a moment before replying, ignoring the fact that he remembered such a small detail that she forgot she ever mentioned before. "It's Raven, not Rae, as hard as that seems to be for you to remember, please try. And nothing on this planet would ever compel me to eat some of that over-processed garbage on your plate."

Smart enough to know not to push her further, Beast Boy changed the subject. "Okay then. So, um, Cy, how'd the repairs on the T-Car?" He knew that was all it took to make the teen talk for an hour, and in an instant he was rambling on all about his baby and how he was going to "kill the punk that broke her right after he fixed her the last time."

An hour later the Titans all arrived back at the tower. It had been unanimously agreed upon that in the disappointing direction their day had taken, they would have a scary movie night, something that always left everyone but Raven laughing when the credits rolled on. Having gotten over her previous ordeal regarding her feelings and their physical manifestation after an earlier scary movie, she felt that it was safe enough to try and watch another one.

The team fell into their usual seating arrangements quickly, with Raven on the far left, then Beast Boy, then Robin and Starfire who moved very close together the moment the lights flickered off, and finally Cyborg, who lounged across his side of the couch only after slipping in _Grave Encounters 2_. All conversations ceased the moment the movie switched on.

The movie ended roughly two hours later, and flicked back to static. A brief moment of complete silence and stillness ensued, with every titan privately processing what they'd just seen. Starfire had become so frightened that she'd burrowed herself far beneath Robin, occasionally peeking out from over his shoulder. He seemed not to have noticed. Beast Boy had shifted into a dog near the end, and was using his floppy ears to shield his eyes. Cyborg sat paralyzed in his seat, eyes wide, unable to move out of shock. Raven, learning from her last experience at horror movies, allowed herself to scream to a small degree at the occasional horror scene, and now sat quietly with her cloak wrapped tightly around herself.

Seconds later the group save one member were beside themselves with laughter. They poked fun at each other's reactions and facial expressions and subjected particularly humorous instances to imitation.

"I do believe that you are now to be named after the tasty flightless bird," said Starfire, pointing at Robin as she giggled.

"Hey, if anyone's a chicken, it's Beast Boy," he said, laughing through the accusation.

Beast Boy shifted into a chicken, for his own personal comic effect, which seemed to have the desired result as his friends burst into another fit of laughter. He shifted right back into his normal green self and elbowed Raven, trying to get her involved in the conversation for the third time that day.

"I dunno, Raven might have me beat there," he said, still poking her. She only glared back. "Oh, come on, Raven, I heard you scream, just admit it. You were totally freaked out."

She quietly stood up, smoothing out the newly made creases of her cloak as she said, "Yes, I was afraid. So were you. And if you insist on bothering me any more today I'll give you something else to be afraid of." Raven knew she couldn't deny her fear; that only caused problems. That did not mean, however, that she had to be nice about it. Without giving her teammate a chance to the respond, she spun around and began briskly walking to her room. "Goodnight," she muttered.

Beast Boy, irritated that he'd struck out for the full day when it came to conversation with Raven, frowned as she left. "Dude, what is her problem? I was just joking around."

Robin placed his hand on his teammate's shoulder. "Don't worry about her. She just does things in her own way," he assured him. In all the time that's he'd known Raven, he knew to respect her boundaries, something that Beast Boy was not too clear on.

Not long after that the rest of the titans dispersed for their own rooms, finding themselves very tired after such a full day. Despite their exhaustion, none of them slept very well through the night, as if their dreams had been less than pleasant, but none could remember what they were.


	2. Ambush in the Alley

**Hey guys! I'm so, so sorry for how long it took for me to put this next chapter up. Basically the second I put up the first chapter I started day one of some of the busiest three weeks of my life. I hope the wait wasn't too awful, and that this chapter makes up for it. **

**Anyways, read, enjoy, and if you like what you see (or want to let me know what I could improve on), write a review! Thanks in advance!**

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The next morning the team reconvened in the main room, all feeling more tired than usual. For most of the Titans, it made very little difference, but a tired Beast Boy meant an annoying Beast Boy, and unfortunately for Raven, he still hadn't given up on getting her to talk to him.

He had just passed by her sitting on the couch as he was heading over to start up the Game Station when he caught a strong whiff of her choice drink.

Wrinkling his nose in disgust, he said, "Why do you even drink that stuff, Rae? It smells bad. And this is coming from a guy who hasn't cleaned his room in years!"

"I would list all the benefits herbal tea has, but I fear your short attention span wouldn't last that long," she replied dully.

"Does it like, help you wake up in the morning? Cause I could really use something like that right now," the green changeling mused, stretching out his skinny limbs and yawning loudly.

"What you could use, BB," said Cyborg, who was also sprawled across the couch, flipping through channels on the big screen, "is a shower. You're right about the stanky room, I can smell it on you."

Beast Boy, trying without avail to remember the last time he showered, lifted his arm and breathed in. Immediately, his pointy ears turned red and tears flooded his eyes. He smelled so bad it _burned _his eyes. Without comment, he turned from his teammates and sprinted for the bathroom, hoping that if he went fast enough, he could outrun the stink.

"Could he be more annoying?" asked Raven, taking another sip from her cup.

Cyborg looked at the cold expression on her face and quickly returned his gaze to the screen in front of him. "Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed today," he mumbled to himself.

Twenty minutes later a clean, refreshed Beast Boy reentered the room and found almost nothing changed. Raven and Cyborg were still on the couch and Robin was still scoring over his computer tracking system, searching for yesterday's villain, with Starfire peering over his left shoulder. The shower had woken him up and he was ready to get the day started. He decided to try Robin for some conversation.

"So did you figure out who Boogerguy was yet?" he asked his leader.

"He called himself the _Boogieman_," Robin told him in a slightly perturbed tone, "and no. I'll give it to him, he's good at playing hide and seek, but it's only a matter of time before I find him."

"But of course you will!" chimed in Starfire, who had obviously decided to dedicate her day to the cheering up of Robin. "We will soon triumph over this Boogerman!"

"_Boogieman_," repeated Robin, saying it low enough so she couldn't hear it, he didn't want to hurt her feelings. "With every surveillance camera, monitor, and recording device in the city hooked up to this computer, I seriously doubt he's not on here somewhere, it's just taking too long to find him."

The teens conversation was put on halt as Robin rapidly tapped away at the keyboard, scanning through more and more footage. Beast Boy, deciding that there was no point in trying to draw his leader from the computer at this point, walked back over to the couch and sat down next to Cyborg, who was watching cartoons.

It seemed like only a short time later that they heard a frustrated groan come from the other side of the room. They turned their heads to see Robin, knuckles clenched, glaring at the computer screen.

"That's it," he said, not looking at his teammates, "We're gonna have to look for this guy the old fashioned way: on foot."

Beast Boy was the only one who groaned. "Can you wait for like, five minutes? The show's almost over!" he whined, pointing a gloved finger at the screen. The others didn't answer, but instead headed for the door. Pouting, Beast Boy dragged himself out – sometimes he really hated being a superhero.

Hours later and the team hadn't found anything new. They were beginning to grow tired of the endless circles around the city, eyeing their communicators impatiently in hope that one of their teammates might find something.

It was Starfire who was the first to find any trace of the elusive villain. She had decided to search through the alleyways around Main St. and 5th for the umpteenth time, having a strange feeling that he might return. It was this time around that she didn't only see dirty sidewalk and littered trash as she peered around the surrounding building. This time, just as she poked her inquisitive alien head in, she spotted a flash of color – a very similar blue to that of the Boogieman's robe. A small squeak of surprise escaped her before she bolted in after the man – and right into a sudden burst of purple smoke.

"Alright team, I think it's time we took a break." Robin's voice echoed through the communicators of his teammates. "Anyone up for some lunch while we're in town?"

Beast Boy was the first responder. "I know! You guys totally have to check out this new vegan place I found last week! They've got tofu everything! Tofu sandwiches, tofu bacon, tofu burgers, tofu–

"–actually Beast Boy," interrupted the leader, hoping to get away with an excuse before it was too late, "I think it's Starfire's turn to pick the venue. What do you want, Star?"

His question was met with static.

"Starfire?"

Nothing.

"Star! Come in Starfire!"

All four titans knew after the third silent pause that something was wrong. They heard a audible gulp most likely from Robin's end of the communicator and waited for his instructions.

"Alright, team," he said, his voice having a new sharpness to it, "we've got to find Starfire. I don't like the thought that a villain we know nothing about has his hands on one of our teammates. I'm turning on her locator." A slight pause and all the communicators lit up with a beeping red dot on their built in GPS.

"Between Main St. and 5th," said Cyborg. "Man, I thought we checked that place like a hundred times!"

"I'm close by," said Raven. She looked down the street she was on and could just see the alleyway that the signal was coming from. She immediately started flying through the crowd toward the dark alley, and in no time at all, she arrived at the entrance. She checked her communicator for the location of her other teammates. It would still be some time before any one of them arrived seeing as they were all in different ends of town; she would have to look for Starfire on her own.

She summoned a ball of dark energy in her right hand and, one foot at a time, crept into the dark alley. "Starfire?" she asked tentatively, and moments later spotted movement in the corner of her eye. Spinning around, she shot the blast of energy in the direction she thought the movement came from, but found nothing there.

"Afraid of shadows, my dear?" came the unnerving voice of the Boogieman, but try as she might, Raven couldn't pinpoint the source.

She almost smirked to herself. "Me? Scared of shadows? Hardly."

"No, I suppose you wouldn't be," cooed his voice again. "Darkness is a part of you, isn't it?" She didn't respond this time, focusing on where his voice was coming from.

"I wonder about all the shadows that must cloud your mind," he said, sounding as if he was getting excited about something hidden from Raven. "How it must twist your thoughts and dreams. The nightmares that must stem from it all!"

Raven felt her skin grow hot with anger and frustration. "You should be worrying about the nightmares I can give you. What did you do with Starfire?"

"Oh, your little alien friend? Well she's just at the end of the alley!" Raven snapped her head in that direction and spotted the teenager laying face up in the dirt, just where he said she was. Strange, she could have sworn she looked in that direction before and saw nothing. She ran to her friend's side and bent down to check that she was alright. She seemed to be unharmed, just sound asleep.

The man's voice echoed in again, sounding very close this time. "Too sweet of a mind, that one has. Makes me sick to my stomach to listen to the kinds of things that tumble through her dreams."

"Why is she asleep?" demanded Raven, taking her eyes of the Tamaranian only to scan for the villain.

"Well I can't very well tune into her nightmares is she's not asleep, can I?"

Raven thought for a moment. "Are you saying that you _feed_ off people's nightmares?"

"You are a smart one. I'm sure a sharp mind like that has some very elaborate, awful nightmares." His voice sounded as if he were right behind her, but when she spun around, no one was there.

"Stay out of my head," she growled, "that's not a place anyone wants to be."

"Simply delectable," he whispered, and Raven swore she felt someone smell her hair. She whipped around again, half expecting nothing again, but this time meeting a blast of purple powder.

"Raven! Come in, Raven!" yelled Robin in his communicator. He should have heard back from Raven by now, but he wasn't getting a response. He let out a roar of frustration as he swung down from the top of a building. As soon as his feet hit the pavement below, he was already racing toward Main St. Mid-run, he raised his communicator to his mouth.

"Beast Boy, Cyborg, whoever this guy is, I think he's managed to get both the girls. No one goes in the alley alone. We'll regroup once we're all there."

"Copy," both teammates replied in unison.

In the rush of adrenaline, all three teenagers arrived at the location less than a minute later, panting heavily as they came to a stop. Beast Boy dared to look up at the Boy Wonder and realized that there would be no break before battle.

"We don't have any time to waste, let's go!"

Knowing that Raven and Starfire could probably manage themselves in a dire situation, Beast Boy sensed that his leader's worry was primarily tied with his affection for Starfire. For some reason, however, that didn't settle his own uneasiness for his disappeared teammates.

The three Titans raced into the shadows, and immediately found out why their calls had previously gone unanswered. Starfire and Raven both lay flat on their backs, unconscious, in the far end of the alley. Beast Boy suddenly felt his stomach lurch as he took in the horrible sight before him. Bent over a violently shivering Raven was the Boogieman, who had his eyes closed in concentration, palm covering the dark girl's eyes, and a peculiar smile playing on his lips.

"Get away from her!" he roared at the villain, barley taking the time to finish his sentence before shifting into a gigantic green bear.

The man's eyes flicked open and he grinned at his new audience. "Oh, I was wondering when you lot would show up. Wish you would've given me a bit more time, though. This young girl's mind is just such a treat!"

"What have you done to them?" demanded Robin, poising his staff so he was ready to strike if need be.

The blue cladded man chuckled to himself and stood up. "You all ask that same question, and to be honest, I'm tired of answering it." And without another word, he pulled out fistful of powder from a pouch and threw it at the ground, disappearing instantly.

"I'm getting real tired of this guy's magic tricks," grumbled Cyborg. He engaged his bionic eye hoping to find the villain through a thermal detector, but for some strange reason nothing registered. "It's like the guy's a ghost or something!"

"No, not a ghost," came the voice of the Boogieman somewhere behind them. They all spun around and spotted him standing a fair distance away at the entrance to the main road. "But I do enjoy watching the ghosts that haunt all of your dreams. Your purple friend over there has quite a few of them actually." Beast Boy caught himself sneaking a glance at his sleeping teammate, worried about what the man meant.

"As much as I'd like to stay, I think you all would be much better off looking after those girls rather than to try me for a game of cat and mouse. They'll both have a fairly rude awakening."

Robin took a determined step toward the criminal. "No, I'm not letting you get away again. You're going to be put away where we can keep a watch on you," he growled.

"_Tsk, Tsk, Tsk_," replied the Boogieman, waving one finger at the boy. "Don't worry, with that little taste of magic I gave you all yesterday cooking in your system, I'm sure it won't be long before I'll be back to see you. Or at least to see what's playing in those troubled little heads of yours."

Robin knew what he was about to do before he reached into one of those strangely colored pouched around his belt. He launched himself into the air, bow staff ready to strike, and just as he was about to reach his opponent, he saw a cloud of smoke erupt below him, enveloping them both.

Beast Boy and Cyborg stared on silently, hearing no signs of battle after the two others disappeared into the dust, unsure of whether it was necessary to aid their leader. They watched as the smoke finally settled, revealing one lone figure: Robin. He was bent over when his staff had struck down on nothing but concrete, a defeated and bewildered look etched across his face.

Beast Boy shifted back into his human self, mouth gaping. "How does he _do_ that?" he asked in awe.

"I don't know," Robin half-mumbled, "but I _will _find out. And I will find him."

A few moments passed as the teen fighters struggled to comprehend what had just happened, but as is Beast Boy's habit, he was the one to break the silence.

"Um, guys?" he said, suddenly remembering something and spinning around on his heels. "Shouldn't we wake them up?" He pointed at the two sleeping figures left on the ground.

Robin quickly walked over to Starfire's side and gently shook her shoulder. "Star," he whispered, "it's time to wake up."

Something in the tenderness that Robin treated his teammate gave Beast Boy the feeling that he shouldn't be watching. He decided to give a go at waking up the other unconscious teen. He kneeled down and looked at the sleeping Raven, and then found himself staring. There was a clear unhappiness in her expression, and he felt himself troubled about what that expression did to the subtle features of her face. It skewed them somehow, made her look all wrong. He had to remind himself that Raven was naturally an angry person, maybe her face had finally stuck that way.

"Rae, time to wake up!" he said, knowing from experience not to touch her. "Rae!" She didn't so much as twitch to the sound of his voice, although she did seem to be shivering. Beast Boy accredited that to the Boogieman. "Come on, Raven. Wakie, wakie, tofu eggs and bakie!" he called, but still got nothing in response.

He'd stopped paying attention to the pair next to him, where Robin, having not had success with awakening Starfire, shook her just a little harder. That last little shake seemed to do the trick. Her frightened eyes sprung open, and Robin knew right away that something was wrong. She let out an audible gasp and started to slightly shiver.

"No," she breathed. "No, I'm not… I'm not good–"

She was cut off by Robin, who laid a gentle hand over her shoulder. "Star, calm down, talk to me. What happened?"

It seemed to take a few moments for Starfire to register his words, and another short while before she was able to find words to respond. "Nightmare, I had a Nightmare…"

"What? What kind of nightmare?"

Suddenly the alien girl sat up and tried to bury her head in his arms. "Oh, Robin, it was terrible. I was so frightened." He felt a few stray tears on his arms and felt a surge of anger toward the villain that had just escaped his grasp for the second time. Starfire almost never reacted this way, she could usually take anything that a criminal threw at her. If she was this scared, he wondered how Raven– _Raven!_ he thought to himself. In his sudden realization he snapped his head in the direction of Beast Boy, who, having given up trying to wake Raven gently, was now shaking her shoulder.

"Beast Boy, stop! She might–" but it was too late. Raven's eyelids flew open to reveal two pools of dark energy. Her teammates knew this look: she was entirely possessed by her emotions. They knew what was coming and had precious moments to brace themselves for what was to come. All at once, the windows above the alley shattered, sending glass spilling into the alleyway, some of it being swept up into the strong, swirling wind that suddenly surrounded the team. Robin ducked and covered both himself and Starfire with his cloak, determined not to let any further harm come to his terrified teammate. Cyborg simply covered the flesh part of his face with his bionic arm, and with a loud squeak, Beast Boy shifted into an armadillo and curled into a tight ball.

When there was no more glass left to fall and only the formable wind remained, which was still pulling the broken glass up from the ground and hurling it in all different directions around the teenagers, Beast Boy decided to act. He shifted back into his normal self and inched toward Raven, using one arm to block the dangerous shards that were whizzing past his head. He positioned himself so that he was closely leaning over her, a hand on the side of her face in hope it would wake her up.

"Rae! Snap out of it!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. "Cut it out! You're gonna hurt someone!"

"Imurtthm," she mumbled inaudibly. Beast Boy leaned in closer to try and hear her over the roar of the wind. "I hurt them. I hurt them. I hurt them," she continued.

"Raven! You gotta wake up!"

"It was me. I hurt them…"

"Wake up, Rae!"

"I hurt th–"

"NO ONE'S HURT!"

Suddenly the wind died down and all the projectile glass fell to the ground in a collective clang. And eerie silence followed. Raven's eyes had closed, and Beast Boy was unsure of what to do next, feeling as if he was working with a time bomb.

"Raven?" he dared to ask. She slowly opened her eyes, and forgetting how close he was to her, Beast Boy found himself just inches above her face. Being so close to her, he noticed a tear fall down the side of her face. "Whoa, Rae, are you okay?" he asked as gently as he thought would be acceptable with Raven.

Suddenly her faced transformed from one Beast Boy scarcely saw to one that he saw much too often. "Get off of me," she demanded in a low voice. He quickly scrambled a few feet away. Contrary to popular belief, he knew when to give Raven space. "Why is it so difficult for you to understand personal space?" she growled, pushing herself up off the ground and brushing off any remaining glass from her uniform. "And when will you learn not to call me that?"

"I was just trying to help!" the changeling protested.

"Next time, don't."

Robin saw it was his turn to intervene. "Raven, Beast Boy stopped you from seriously hurting yourself – and any of us for that matter," she flinched slightly at those words, but Robin misinterpreted the meaning, "Look, no one blames you. Whatever the Boogieman did to you obviously triggered your trace."

"Did you have a horrible dream, too, friend Raven?" said the still teary-eyed alien from behind Robin.

Raven didn't answer her directly, in fact, she suddenly found it very hard to make eye-contact with any of her teammates. It took her some time to find her voice, and when she did, it sounded masked by something she was trying to block out. "The Boogieman isn't some criminal we can just beat up and toss in jail. He might not even be human. He has some kind of magic I'm not familiar with." She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, then opened them again to face her team. "I could feel him in my _head_, and I felt his energy growing. I think he's feeding off people's nightmares."

Robin rubbed his chin, thinking hard. "Something he said before disappearing again worries me. I think he might have done something to us last time. I think whatever the powder that he threw at us was might have caused these nightmares."

"Are you saying we might get the creepy dreams, too?" asked Cyborg.

"Won't know until we're asleep, will we?" replied Robin watching Starfire out of the corner of his eye grow pale at the possibility.

"If that's true, the dreams could get worse," added Raven.

"They could," said Robin, frowning. He wouldn't know what to do if all this was true. How long could the team go without sleeping, and how long could it take to catch the Boogieman? "For now," he offered, "let's just head back to the tower. I can try scanning for the Boogieman from there." The team, all a little shaken, nodded in unison and they turned to make their way out the alley.

Beast Boy felt a sharp pain as he moved and, looking to his right, found a sizable cut below his shoulder, probably caused by the falling glass. Wincing, he pulled back the material of his uniform to get a better look, but a delicate gray hand suddenly covered the wound.

"Ouch," he said, trying to pull away, but Raven wouldn't let him. Moments later, he felt the pain fade considerably, and she pulled back her arm to reveal a near-healed patch of skin. "Thanks," he said sheepishly, unsure how she would react to anything he said.

"It was my fault," she replied, and Beast Boy saw something in her eyes that she wasn't going to voice. "Thank you, Beast Boy. For stopping me, I mean."

Beast Boy was surprised by the change of heart; only moment before she had been yelling at him. He was so surprised that it took him several moments before he was able to choke out a "Y-yeah, n-no problem," but by then she was already gone, following the rest of the team out to the main street.


	3. Dread for the Dreams

**Sorry again for the rather late update. I'm still waiting for life to give me a little break from all the busyness, but I have a feeling that won't happen until summer. Let's just hope I can make it that long! 0_o**

**This chapter is a little more focused on the relationship between Robin and Starfire, so for all you RobStar fans out there, enjoy! It might be awhile before I do much with them again!**

**Anyways, you guys know the drill. If you like it, let me know! If not, well, let me know why! Haha.**

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The rest of the day passed excruciatingly slowly for the team, the thoughts of what was to come during the night weighing heavily on their minds. None said much of anything to each other, and while Robin did spend the entirety of the day typing away on his computer in search of the mysterious villain, by the end of the day they were no closer to tracking him down and putting an end to their strange week.

It was well past midnight by the time Robin finally gave up his search. He let out a long yawn and rubbed his weary eyes, dreaming of some shut eye away from the glaring light of the computer screen.

Too disappointed in his lack of progress to face his team, he simply got up from his chair and dragged himself across the room, out into the hallway, and in the direction of his room. As he left, he didn't notice the four pairs of eyes trained on his back, hoping for a game plan from their team leader. They were all uncertain, and it was a strange feeling – superheroes always had a plan.

"So, uh," began Beast Boy, his ears folding back nervously, "What do we do now?"

"Are you worried that you, too, may have the scary dreams?" asked Starfire, a subtle strain in her voice that suggested she was still a little shaken over the day's events.

The green teenager turned visibly pinker. "What? Me? Afraid of a stupid bad dream? No way! I –I was just–" with one look at his teammate's faces he saw no hope in further protest. "Okay, maybe just a little." He promptly shifted into a turtle and hid into his shell, as was his habit when he was excessively embarrassed.

"I don't think there's anything _to _do," said Cyborg from the couch, stretching out his tired muscles. "Except get a little shut eye," he added.

"You are not afraid?" asked Starfire.

"Nah, not of a little scary dream," he replied with a grin, even if it didn't look as care-free as usual.

"You should be," muttered Raven from her end of the couch. She had forgone books today and stuck to meditation since they'd returned home, figuring most of her books' dark story lines might not be much help to her state of mind. The team fell silent after her comment.

"Well, won't know till we try it, huh?" said Cyborg after a couple minutes, pushing himself off the couch with conviction, whether it was to prove to himself or the team of his confidence, he was unsure. He left the other three alone to worry.

Fifteen minutes later, Starfire was the next one to gain enough confidence to leave. Raven thought she heard her mutter to herself, "I have defeated her once before, why should I not be able to once again?" as she left for the main hall.

"Just you and me, huh?" said Beast Boy with an uneasy laugh, but if Raven had heard him, she gave no response. Sighing, Beast Boy fell back against the couch and flipped through TV stations, doing his very best to keep his mind occupied and awake.

After an hour or so Raven got up and walked soundlessly over to the kitchen, pulling out her teapot from the cupboard and filling it with water. She turned on the stove top and set the pot above it, watching it as it heated.

Beast Boy turned his head to watch her, in awe at her inherent ability to stand motionless for such long periods of time, to seem so calm when he himself was so agitated and jumpy.

"You know what they say, Rae," he called over the couch, "a watched pot never gets hot!" He felt part of the saying sounded wrong, and half expected Raven to correct his misusage, but she remained quiet. "So does that stuff really keep you awake?"

She turned and looked over at him for a long moment, then finally nodded. "It helps," she replied.

"Can I have some, then?"

She raised an eyebrow. "You want tea?"

"Nah," he replied, wrinkling part of his nose in disgust, "but I wanna stay awake a for awhile."

She blinked once, still staring at him. "Okay," she said.

When the kettle whistled at last, Raven poured two cups of tea, thinking to herself about how long it'd been since she'd last made tea for anyone but herself, but recovering no previous memory. She walked back over to the couch and handed Beast Boy his cup and sat down some feet away from him with her own.

Beast Boy hesitantly sniffed at the liquid in his hands, and instantly wrinkled his nose at the unfamiliar smell, but with a quick glance at Raven he realized she was watching him, and not wanting to offend her, took a large gulp. Too late, he realized this to be a mistake.

"AHH!" he cried, eyes watering.

"By the way, it might be a little hot," deadpanned Raven, a slightly upturned corner of her mouth betraying amusement where her voice did not.

"I hink I urnt my hongue!" he continued, holding out his tongue for Raven to see.

"At least you're awake," she replied.

Beast Boy grinned. "Dude, you're right! Not sleepy at all!"

Raven hid her smile with a sip of tea.

They didn't speak again for some fifteen minutes, but as silence didn't sit well with Beast Boy, he felt compelled to break it.

"Hey, Rae–"

"–Raven."

"What? Oh, yeah. Hey, Raven? Can I ask you something?"

"You just did."

"Can I ask you something else?" Feeling that he wasn't going to learn no matter how many times she pointed out that he just did, she looked back at him, giving him her silent permission to continue.

"What was your nightmare about?" From the way Raven's face immediately fell into a deep scowl, Beast Boy knew he'd asked her too personal a question. Raven hated personal questions. "I'm not trying to pry or anything! I just wanna know what I might see if I go to bed!"

Her face softened just a little. "It seems like it stems from what you fear the most," she replied thoughtfully, watching him.

He gulped, having a bad feeling of what that meant for him. Without thinking he blurted out, "So, then, what are you scared of?" Trying to correct himself before Raven got a chance to react to his second personal question of the last few seconds he went on, "Sorry, I'm really trying not to ask you any personal questions, I know you hate them, it's just… seems like you're never scared of anything."

Raven listened to him fumble through his sentences without any emotion betraying what she was thinking. When at last he was silent, she decided to speak.

"I'm afraid of losing control," she told him. Beast Boy felt his face grow hot. Had Raven actually just confided in him? What should he do? Should he say anything? As he struggled over these questions minutes passed by, both teenagers in deep thought, occasionally sipping their tea.

"Hey, Raven?" he asked again.

"Yes?"

"Thanks."

"For?"

"I don't know. Just thanks, I guess."

She stared at the green changeling, not knowing how to respond to his strange outburst of gratitude. Eventually, she simply nodded at him.

It was nearly two hours later that Beast Boy felt he couldn't fight off the fatigue any longer and decided to face his worried head on.

"Night," he said, leaving Raven to the dark room. He knew not to ask her if she was going to bed, she had her own way of doing things and he tried as often as he could to remember it.

He walked slowly through the dark hallway, dragging his feet with each step. It took him nearly twice as long as it usually did to reach his room, and when he finally did, he walked straight in and collapsed across his bed. He rolled over onto his back, and with one hand across his chest and the other behind his head, he fell sleep quite quickly.

It was the early hours of the morning when Starfire awoke in a cold sweat, tears still wet across her face. She'd had another nightmare, and this time when she awoke, there was no one to tell her it was going to be okay.

She hugged herself tightly, whispering, "It's not real, she's not real, it's not real," over and over again until they'd all blurred together into one mumbled word. Somehow, however, she felt no better. She needed someone to tell her it was just a dream, not her own voice repeating the words, but another's. Robin's.

As soon as the thought of the team captain popped into her head, Starfire was out of bed walking down the hallway towards his room. "Robin should not be disturbed," he said to herself. "This is very cowardly of you, a true Tamaranian would not be so afraid," but her own reasoning did nothing to sway her from her path down the hallway.

When she finally reached Robin's door her hand paused just before knocking. Deciding just to peek in and see whether or not he was sleeping, Starfire pushed open the door so it was slightly ajar and peered in.

Inside, under the covers of his bed was Robin, sleeping – and obviously dreaming of something unpleasant. He was muttering something unintelligible and struggling with his covers, a frustrated expression on his face.

Starfire flew over to his side and laid her hand over his arm.

"Friend Robin," she said gently, "you must wake up."

"Not… good… enough," he breathed, still unconscious.

"Robin!" she called, shaking his arm, a little harder than she realized thanks to her inhuman strength. Robin's eyes opened, shocked and confused. One of his hands knocked off Starfire's and the other reached for his utility belt, which fortunately for Starfire had been left on another side of the room.

The alien girl squeaked in surprise and jumped back, her only recently dried eyes filling up again with moisture.

Recognition registered in Robin's mind. "Star? What are you doing in here?" he asked, but his teammate was too buy wiping away her tears to answer him. "Starfire, what's wrong? Are you hurt?" he asked, pushing off his bed and walking over to her.

"No, I am not physically injured. However, I have endured another nightmare," she said, "But when I awoke this time, I felt very, very alone. I-I–" she faltered, "Oh, I am so sorry, I should not have woken you. I am being foolish." She made a move to turn around, but Robin caught her arm.

"Star, it's not bad to be scared of things," he told her, "the important thing is to figure out what to do about it." He half-smiled at her and she returned the gesture.

"Then, what should I do?" she asked.

"Depends what you're afraid of."

"What if I do not know what that is?"

"Get some rest and think about it tomorrow."

"Okay." Robin turned to go back to bed, thinking his late night visit was over, but heard Starfire say his name quietly from behind.

"What is it, Star?"

"I fear I will not be able to 'get some rest' as you said. My room is very dark." She said, shyly looking at her feet. "May I maybe stay here for the night?"

"W-what?" stuttered Robin, utterly taken aback. He was used to the girl's strange requests, but this one was completely awkward.

"Of course, I should have known it was a silly question. You do not wish for me to disturb you. I will go now," she said, turning around toward the doorway.

"W-wait, Starfire," called Robin. "You can stay here if you're scared, it's alright."

Her eyes lit up. "Really? Oh, thank you!" she said happily, flying quickly back across the room straight onto the single bed.

"Eh–" said Robin, uncertain on what to do. He definitely couldn't share the bed, that would be– wrong. He walked over to the bed and pulled off one of the two pillows and headed for the armchair that was pushed up against the far wall. He'd fallen asleep there many times working on strategies and battle plans, he could do it again.

"Why do you not share the bed with me, friend Robin? There is plenty of space," called a confused Starfire.

"Oh no there isn't," Robin muttered to himself, settling into the armchair as comfortably as he could.

"What?"

"I said I'd rather sleep here. It's, eh, better for my back," he lied.

"Oh, alright," she said brightly, turning back into the covers.

"Robin?" she said a few minutes later from the dark.

"Were you having a nightmare as well when I awoke you?"

He sighed to himself. "Yes. Looks like the Boogieman did something to us after all."

"Would you like to talk about it?"

"No, it's alright, Star."

"Robin?"

"Yeah?"

"It is not bad to be afraid of things." Robin smiled to himself, the alien girl's words strangely comforting him, even if it was the advice he'd just given her.

"Goodnight, Starfire," he said.

"Goodnight, Robin," she replied.

Raven didn't know what time it was when she finally gave into her need for sleep: probably very late judging by the size of the dark circles under her eyes. Or maybe the circles were caused by her newest nightmare, one that she had prayed would not return during the night, but had come anyway.

Luckily, when she had awoken this morning, there was no sign of her powers having flew off the handle. Maybe it had to do with the fact that Beast Boy hadn't rudely awoken her – she guessed that was probably the reason.

Having one last look in her mirror at her exhausted eyes, she threw on the hood of her cloak and left her room, heading for the kitchen. She could really use some tea right about now.

When she entered the room she was surprised to see everyone else was already there. Had she slept in that late? She was almost always the first one up, and at the very least never the last. Checking the clock her suspicion was confirmed: Raven had, in fact, overslept.

"Friend, Raven!" called Starfire from the kitchen table, "You join us at last!"

"Yeah, we were starting to worry about you," relied Robin, who, sitting on the corner of the couch, was uncharacteristically far away from Starfire. "How'd you sleep?"

"You mean to ask if I had another nightmare."

"Did you?"

She nodded solemnly at the her leader.

"It's confirmed then," he sighed, "We've all had the dreams."

"Well I could've told ya that much," said a heavily-sarcastic Cyborg. "So what's the game plan for dealing with this messed-up magic man?"

Robin frowned at himself. "I don't know," he said with visible frustration. "I think we're going to need to know more about him before we can figure out how to catch him."

"And just how are we gonna do that? The guy disappears faster that a girl Beast Boy tries to hit on." He glanced to his side where Beast Boy slouched against the couch, waiting for his reaction to the quip, but the boy didn't seem to hear, his eyes glued to the TV.

"Well," Robin said, looking as if he was working something out in his head, "didn't you say he has magic, Raven?" She nodded. "That's your area of expertise, do you think you could figure out what kind that might be? It might help us figure out how to fix whatever spell he put on us."

"Magic is the most mysterious of all anomalies, even all my experience is only just a basic understanding," she warned Robin, and then continued, "But I'll do what I can."

Robin nodded his thanks, then turned to face Cyborg. "Cyborg, do you think you could ask Jinx for any information on the Boogieman? They usually know something when a new criminal appears out of nowhere."

The half-bot turned light pink, as was a common result when the prospect of seeing Jinx was mentioned. While their alliance might still be a little shaky after everything that happened, he couldn't help but to want to see her.

He tried to shake off his embarrassment, to little avail. "Uh, yeah, sure," he muttered.

Robin nodded. "Good. I think I'll try and go through more of the city's surveillance. He's got to be on there somewhere."

"And what of me, Robin?" asked Starfire, who was absolutely excited about the idea of a game plan; she needed something to distract her and putting an annoying villain behind bars sounded enticing.

Out of nowhere, Raven watched Robin's face go red, and the sound of Starfire's voice seemed to have been the cause. That in combination with their unusual distance from each other this morning made Raven suspicious. Had something happened? She resolved to watch them more closely for the next few days. In a time like this a feuding team would be useless.

"Eh," he began, unsure, "Why don't you help Cyborg?"

"Nah-uh," said Cyborg, shaking his head, "You know Jinx's one rule. I'm the only one who's allowed to contact her. The girl's got trust issues."

"Raven?" Robin pleaded.

"Um, I don't think that would be the best plan," she replied. As much as she didn't want to hurt her bubbly teammate's feelings, the last time she had let Starfire near her spell books an incident had resulted in two of her favorite books being transformed into man-eating monsters and sobbing Starfire.

"Should I not join your search? One eye is better than two, yes?"

"Star, it's 'two eyes are–', n-never mind. Alright, you can help me."

"Oh, most wonderful!" she cheered. "And what of friend Beast Boy?"

"Wow, I almost forgot the little grass stain was still here, he was being so quiet," noted Cyborg in amazement.

"Right. Beast Boy," called Robin, and Beast Boy finally turned toward the others, his face blank. "Could you give Raven a hand?"

"Excuse me," interrupted Raven, "but I just said it wouldn't be a good idea for Starfire to help me, what makes you think Beast Boy would be better?"

"Sorry," Robin apologized sincerely, "but I there's no room by our surveillance system for someone else and you heard Cyborg. Besides, you said yourself it would be hard work to find out what magic the guy is using. You need help."

Raven glanced over at Beast Boy, and apart from being unusually quiet, had been quite pleasant with her last night – well as pleasant as Beast Boy could be. She decided to cut him some slack.

"Okay, fine," she yielded.

"Alright, everyone has their job to do," said Robin, "Meet back here when you're done. Titans go!"

The five split up, Robin and Starfire to the computers, Cyborg out to the garage to take out his T-car, and Raven over to where Beast Boy sat slumped against the couch.

"Well?" she asked.

"Yeah?" he replied, with no trace of the light-hearted teasing that he usually had when speaking to Raven.

"Are you coming or not?"

"I don't know, am I?"

"What are you talking about? You heard Robin."

"Yeah and I heard you too. Do you actually want my help?" Raven was dumbfounded by his change of attitude. Where had it come from?

Well, if he was going to be that way, so could she.

"No," she said, "but Robin was right, I do need it. Now get up and follow me."

Without another word, Beast Boy got up from his seat and soundlessly followed Raven into the hall toward her room and the plethora of spell books that awaited them.

Raven became increasingly aware of a sense of unease between her and Beast Boy. Something about him was off, and she was beginning to get an idea of what that might be.


	4. Reading in Raven's Room

**Fair warning: This is going to be a bit of a shorter chapter, it's mainly just a transition for the next thing I have planned for the story but hey – there was almost no wait time for this update! :D**

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Beast Boy and Raven made it back to her room without a single word spoken, much to the surprise and delight of Raven. That was, until, they reached her door and she opened it with the slightest touch of her hand.

"Um," came the unsure voice of the changeling from behind her, "Am I really allowed to go in there?" A high pitched warning signal was emitting from his brain, something that had been nearly personally installed by Raven after the last time he and Cyborg had intruded. Not that her anger was unwarranted, being sucked into her meditation mirror was arguably a step past reading someone's diary.

"Only so long as you're chaperoned," she replied coldly.

"Oh." Raven heard it again: that strange, disconnected note in Beast Boy's voice. Absentmindedly she wondered if that was what she sounded like sometimes.

She led him into the room, slightly pleased to see that he stayed firmly planted in the middle of the room, far away from anything breakable. She went to her bookcase and briskly traced her fingers down the spines of books, searching dusty titles for anything that might be related to the magic that the Boogieman possessed. She paused over the title _Early Dark Magic and its Origins_ and then pulled it smoothly from the self. This was a fairly basic start, something the monks of Azarath had given her to study early on in her life. She briefly leafed through the pages, searching for any potentially dangerous material that Beast Boy might get his hands on, such as incantations he might read aloud in attempt to sound out the words. Satisfied that it was quite safe, she handed him the book.

He nearly tripped with the new weight. "Whoa! Why is this thing like three hundred pounds?"

Raven couldn't help from rolling her eyes. "That's a bit of an exaggeration." She picked out her own book, an ancient leather-bound novel titled _The Things of Nightmares._ Perhaps an old scary story from her magic immersed homeland might provide some insight on where his powers came from. She sat on the end of her bed, legs crisscrossed as if she'd begun her daily meditation, and opened to the first page.

After a minute she looked back at Beast Boy, curious about the sight of him actually reading a book. Unfortunately, he didn't seem to be finished with the title yet, eyes bulging as he studied the size and weathered material of the binding. But just as Raven was about to roll her eyes for the second time, he flipped open the cover to the first page. Then the next, and then the next, and soon he was simply flipping through the pages, an expression of nausea across his face.

"What are you doing," asked Raven, drawing the green boy's gaze toward her.

"There's gotta be at least a million pages in here, and no pictures!" he complained, holing open a page for her to see.

"Yet another exaggeration."

He ignored her comment and went on, "How am I supposed to read this thing?"

"I guess I should have known you couldn't read."

"Hey!" he said, quite offended, "I can too read! I do it all the time!"

"Is that so?" Raven said, an eyebrow raised in amusement.

"It is so!" he persisted, "I'll show you!" He dropped Raven's book and sprinted out the door, heading in the direction of his room. Raven's eyes immediately fell to where the book lay on its spine, wide open. She sighed in exasperation and gracefully encased the book in a thin veil of dark energy, flipping it closed. He was so careless. An yet somehow she felt she should be angrier. Perhaps she was a little relieved that their argument seemed to have made Beast Boy act more himself again.

That thought took her aback. Since when was she happy that Beast Boy was being his obnoxious self? This revelation kept her mind occupied all the way until Best Boy returned, stack of comic books in hand.

She should have known.

"See?" he said proudly, showing off the sizable stack of comics.

"The term 'light reading' has never been so far stretched," she commented mostly to herself, but Beast Boy's over sensitive ears picked it up.

"Not even! I bet any one of these are better than the snooze fests you keep on those shelves."

Raven was not to be swayed. "You know Beast Boy," she began, "when they say a picture is worth a thousand words, they didn't intend the saying to be used as justification for _these_."

"You have no idea what you're talking about! I bet you've never even read one of these babies before." he picked out what appeared to be his favorite issue, the comic worn and dog-eared on what seemed to every page. "I bet it'd be good for you, too! It's not healthy to sit all alone, cooped up with these dusty old textbooks for so long. No wonder you're always so cranky," he joked, realizing just a little late that he might have taken it too far.

Raven was all too familiar that people thought her anti-social and a bit odd for reading all she did and spending so much time alone, in fact, it was a bit of a sore spot. Reflexively, she pulled up the back of her hood and turned back to her own dusty book.

"Look, you can read your children's books all you want, but I'll be here reading these _dusty old textbooks_, looking for needed information on a new villain, and making something useful of myself," she said bitterly, trying to swallow the bad taste in her mouth.

Beast Boy stood there frozen momentarily, unsure of his next course of action. He messed up often enough to know he should apologize, and fast, but the tricky part was saying it before Raven physically kicked him out.

"Uh, I didn't mean it that way, I just–"

"_Don't_."

"I'm just trying to apol–"

"I. Said. _Don't_." she hissed through her teeth.

Fine, if she wouldn't accept his apology he wasn't going to waste his breath trying to give it. She could be as much of boring workaholic as she liked, he wouldn't let her get to him. It was _not _going to bother him.

Except it did. Something about the way she shut down on him when they were just starting to get along really, really bothered him. And the fact that he couldn't see her face under the shadows of her hood to even begin to try and read her face made him uneasy, kind of like seeing a time bomb without a visible timer.

His eyes drifted down from the dark hole in a hood where Raven's face would be to the massive book in her hands and suddenly, and with discontentment, he realized the only thing that he could do to get Raven to forgive him. He would have to read, no pictures and all.

With a loud sigh he knew Raven was sure to hear, he lugged _Early Dark Magic and its Origins_ into his lap and flipped it open to page one. One word at a time, he began the headache-inducing, hair-splitting expedition that was reading, all in the name of an apology.

Raven had looked up when Beat Boy sighed ready to magic him right out of her room, only to be deeply surprised by what lay across his lap, so instead she went back to her own reading not to look up again until the next loud noise that came out of his mouth: snoring. He had actually fallen asleep reading, and only a few pages in at that. She had to give it to him though, he seemed to have given it his best.

She bookmarked her page in her own reading, placed it neatly on the corner of her bed, and got up. She pulled down the hood of her cloak and took another long look at Beast Boy, who – with his mouth hanging open, one arm holding down a page, the other hooked awkwardly around his head, propping himself up slightly from the ground – looked to be quite comfortable.

Stifling a yawn of her own, Raven walked out of her room, heading towards the kitchen. While she didn't entirely trust Beast Boy in her room alone, she felt he couldn't do much unconscious, and a nice cup of herbal tea sounded very appealing.

Once she reached the kitchen and put on a kettle of boiling water, her thoughts drifted away from a sleeping Beast Boy and back to where they should be: focused on finding out who the Boogieman was. Nothing she had read had given her much insight on what kind of magic was causing the nightmares, only cryptic remarks and convoluted lessons on the follies of children from Azarath. Nothing useful at all.

Her mind was still sifting through all the old tales, completely immersed in her own thoughts, when the kettle went off, making her actually jump back in surprise. Strange, she never scared that easily. Maybe the combination of everything that was happening was taking its toll on her nerves.

Once her tea was prepared she returned to her room, relieved to find its contents intact and a green teenager still asleep on the floor. He was exactly as she left him: same position, same snoring, same – no, something in his expression had changed. His eyebrows had come together in a hard line and he was frowning. She studied this new expression for a few moments before realizing his breathing was changing. The long and loud snores had morphed into shorter, harder breaths, and on occasion sounds escaped – sounds like she might hear him make in a struggle during battle, nothing like the sounds of a soundly sleeping boy. No, he wasn't just sleeping anymore.

He was having a nightmare.

She hastily set her tea on her dresser and bent down over the changeling. Carefully wrapping her fingers around his arm, she gave a small tug. "Wake up," she said once, and right away, he did. His eyes opened suddenly and for a moment Raven thought they weren't his eyes at all: as if there was a certain meanness about them – not at all like Beast Boy's. But the next moment he looked just as he should and Raven decided it had been nothing, perhaps a trick of the light.

He sat up and started rubbing his eyes. Neither of them said anything, Raven simply stayed next to him, fingers reassuringly still on his arm. When he finally brought his own hands away from his face his gaze drifted down, confused to Raven's lingering hand. She quickly retracted it, as if she'd forgotten it was there.

"How do you feel?" she asked, remembering how badly she felt when the tables were turned in the alley and she'd been woken up.

"Um, fine," he lied. He saw Raven's raised eyebrow and continued, "Okay, so not so good."

Suddenly Raven felt awkward. What was she supposed to do now? Feeling weren't exactly her forte.

Beast Boy could sense the unease in her forced concern, but hey, he appreciated the effort. Especially since the last time he was conscious she was about ready to kick him out of her room with unnecessary force. "I'll be fine in no time though, you know me – I always bounce back!" he said, grinning awkwardly, throwing her a metaphorical bone. "No need to talk about it!"

And suddenly he was much more helpful than he intended. Something he said reminded Raven of something she'd read once. But where had she read it? Which book? She was instantly up in the air, flying in all directions of her room, pulling books out of shelves, closets, and any other nooks and crannies she could think of.

"What did I say?" asked a panicked Beast Boy. The only time he saw Raven with this much determination it was aimed, with malice, directly at him.

"Nothing," she said hastily, not bothering to look at him.

"Oh, okay," he said, not entirely reassured. "What are you doing, then? A little late for spring cleaning, isn't it?"

She found time to roll her eyes at his comment. "Look for the name Damien. K.L. Damien," was all she said.

Confused but not wanting to anger her again so quickly after he got off the hook, Beast Boy began shifting through some of the books in her shelf, checking each one completely for any sign of the name. Minutes went by without either one having any success, that is until a brown, ancient piece of parchment fell out of the book Beast Boy was looking through, falling right onto his feet. He picked it up with care, afraid it might spontaneously combust in state it was in, and unfolded it.

In artfully crafted handwriting was written the title, "Of Darkness Dead and Dreary", and directly under that was the name "K.L. Damien."

"Rae! Totally found it!" he called, beaming at finding something before Raven. But living up to the rain on his parade he knew her to be, she quickly swooped down and snatched it from his hands with no acknowledgement of his achievement.

"It's Raven," was the only comment she offered him. His ears fell against his head in disappointment, but she didn't seem to notice.

Aloud, she read the entirety of the poem, all the way until she reached what she was looking for, the stanza she only vaguely remembered.

It read:

_"He did so remember the night's unrelenting horror_

_as he awakened in the day's earliest hour_

_For each morning he came back to the world_

_not once could he mention how he would cower_

_He might have taken solace in daylight_

_When so faded the very things in which he found fear_

_But could not knowing each night they were to return_

_And adding tenfold to the horrors that would appear_

_For each day he barred his tongue against the truth_

_Another shadow of his shame took refuge_

_In those deep, dark corners of his mind, until_

_It was his own stubbornness preventing his rescue"_

"In other words," she translated for a dumbfounded Beast Boy, "Nightmares will only continue to get worse, unless you address the problem head on _and talk about it_."

After she had accidentally unleashed her powers on her friends that one night after watching _Wicked Scary_ she had torn this poem from an old book from Azarath – one primarily used from countering dark magic – as a reminder to stop suppressing her feelings. A reminder that seemed to have gone to waste, nevertheless.

She let out a long breath. While this was not a clue on where the Boogieman had come, it was a confirmation that he was using a form of magic otherworldly, as well as a clue on how to undo the spell.

Unfortunately, it was exactly the kind of spell reversal Raven was not at all comfortable with doing. If this was what she thought it was, it meant not only addressing her problems, but telling to her friends about them, and that was not a conversation she was willing to have. Internally, she questioned whether she preferred the nightmares.

Beast Boy looked skeptically at her. "Did you just make that up to get me to tell you about my bad dream?"

"No," she said coldly, taking offense at his accusation, "But I have a feeling this is the solution to the nightmares. Many dream-related incantations can only be reversed through means of the mental state of being; once they are cast no amount of magic will fix them."

"Uh, English?"

"We have talk to each other to figure out what our subconscious is telling us through these dreams, then the nightmares will stop,"

"You sure you're not trying to find out what my dream was about? I don't mind telling you if you want to know this bad."

Raven actually had to cover her forehead with her palm she was so amazed at his obtuseness. "Believe me, I have no willingness to know what goes on in your head. Not after knowing the things that already come out of your mouth."

"That's not fair! I got sucked into your head, no choice there."

Raven turned to face him, arms crossed. "Now you want me in your subconscious?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

Beast Boy turned pink. "W-what? No! That's no what I was–" He shook his head violently, only stopping to massage his temples. "Your stupid dream poem confused me, okay?!"

Raven was about to say "I'm not surprised," but something stopped her. Instead, she turned around and headed for the door, calling behind her, "Are you coming?"

Beast Boy, head still spinning from all that just happened, had to run to catch up. "What are we doing now?"

"Team meeting," said Raven, although her head replied with a largely unenthusiastic "More like sharing circle."

* * *

**For anyone who got confused, the Titans will now be having a deep, thought-provoking, team-bonding sharing circle about their dreams and feelings.**

**Okay, not really. Except for Starfire, none of the team are really the touchy-feely type. But the dreams will eventually have to come out, which is why I ask you all: What do you think each of the Titan's nightmares are about?**

**Seriously, please comment your guesses as I'm extremely curious on the variety of answers I might get (dreams are weird), as well as any other comments or questions you might have for my story (the lack of feedback I got on my last chapter was not encouraging D:).**

**Thanks for reading!**


	5. Mantras, Meditation, and Melt-downs

**Hello readers! Wanted to say a quick thanks for the very in-depth feedback I got after the last chapter. It was really interesting to see all your ideas and guesses on what the team's nightmares will be, however, you may need to wait a little longer to find out what the dreams are!**

**Here's chapter five:**

* * *

"You want us to what?" asked a shocked Cyborg, his good eyebrow raised to a record height. He turned to his teammates, pointing an accusatory finger at the dark teenager standing before them all. "Hey, are we sure this is even Raven? Come on, never in a hundred billion years would the _real_ Raven ever ask us to do _that_."

Starfire let out a gasp. "Are you suggesting that friend Raven is not our friend at all?" She immediately flew over to Raven and began tugging at her arms, cheeks, and other various body parts.

Raven, her face betraying utter annoyance, let out a deep sigh. "What are you doing, Starfire?" she asked in a monotone.

"I am merely checking if you are an imposter of the real Raven," she said determinedly. A few moments later she touched back to ground and stared at Raven in deep thought. "Hmm, yes, I do believe you are Raven," she concluded finally, her expression transforming in one of happiness. "Glorious!" In her glee, the alien didn't realize how close she was to the blue clad teenager, a mistake that Raven quickly corrected by clearing her throat and reminding Starfire of her presence. Starfire ceased her laughter and hastily flew back to the others.

"See? Didn't I tell you they were gonna be all freaked out?" piped up Beast Boy from Raven's side, giving her a nudge in the ribs with his elbow. She immediately redirected her aggression at the changeling, her icy stare silencing him within moments.

With the whole room silent, she cleared her throat again and said, "As I was saying, unless we track down the Boogieman I see no other choice but this–" she grimaced slightly to herself "–as regrettable as it might be."

"Man, I think she's being serious," Cyborg said to the others as quietly as he could, hoping Raven didn't hear.

Robin had been silent for the entire meeting, feeling paralyzed as Raven's solution was turning out to be worse of a nightmare than the ones he was currently having. But, as the leader, he felt compelled to speak.

"And you're absolutely positive this is the only way?" he asked, secretly crossing his fingers behind his back with a silent prayer.

Raven stared at the team leader wordlessly for a few moments, her mind running a list of sarcastic answers to his question like "No, I just thought it would be nice to have a little team bonding," but instead settled with a simple nod in his direction – she even spared him from her famed eye roll. If there was even the slightest chance of another possibility for a cure, she would have found it. This was, by all it stood for, their last resort.

Robin massaged his forehead with his fingers, trying to process the meaning of this cure. In both a literal and nonliteral way he masked his real face from his teammates at all times. To expose such a deep, vulnerable part of himself was simply unthinkable.

"So then," began Starfire, peering over at Robin's pained expression with concern, "should we begin with this sharing of emotions? Elimination of these bad dreams would be most welcome, would it not?"

Everyone's eyes immediately dropped to their feet, and nonchalant whistling could be heard in the room; no one wanted to be the first to speak.

Beast Boy, determined to never have to share his dreams, spoke up first, "Eh, ladies first?" he suggested, his voice noticeably higher in pitch than usual.

Starfire glanced around the room, and realizing that no one was likely to confess any time soon to the horrors that plagued their minds, decided the responsibility fell to herself. She took in a deep breathe in preparation to speak, but Robin beat her to it.

"I think we should give a little more time to finding the culprit before we do anything this, uh, _extreme_…" he said uneasily, and while it was easy to see that his decision was not based logically but rather in fear, no one but Starfire was willing to challenge it.

Frowning, she asked, "Would it not be better to end the bad dreams here and now, and have the energy required for the capture of the villain? Surely it is better to save the town from further peril than to save the embarrassment of our feelings?"

Robin grew red under his mask, and his voice took on an edge that he almost never used with Starfire. "Heroes don't need to talk about their feelings to get themselves out of a bad situation. They catch villains to fix problems; they fight crime. And as long as I'm a Titan, I'm going to fight the best way I know how – by catching the Boogieman."

Starfire's face fell and Robin couldn't help to feel a little guilty, but certainly not enough to apologize. No, he was too stubborn for that.

Her eyes fell to her feet and she clasped her hands together, a gesture she seldom made and that only served as an acknowledgement to her obligation to follow orders, even if she didn't like them.

"I understand," she said softly.

A very awkward silence ensued in the room, with no one knowing what to say next when they had no plan of action and no direction for a solution. After the quiet became to much for him to handle, Cyborg glanced at the digital clock that was hardwired into his forearm and was delighted by the time displayed.

"Look at that!" he said in as casual a tone as he could muster. "Dinner time! Who's in the mood for some nice, juicy hamburgers?"

"Not hungry," said Robin, still visibly frustrated. Suddenly he spun around and started stalking towards the exit. "I'm going to go have another look around town, I'll let you all know if I find anything suspicious," he explained just before the door shut behind him.

Everyone stared after their leader, mildly shocked.

"So…" began Beast Boy, his eyes still on the door, "got any veggie burgers?"

When night came and the hands on the living room clock were getting ever closer to their usual bedtime, the team began getting anxious. None of them doubted what was waiting for them in their dreams any longer, and everyone was getting desperate for a means to avoid it. Extremely desperate.

"Raven," Starfire asked hesitantly over the couch, peering at her teammate who stood at the counter with her hands wrapped around a warm cup of tea. No one had noticed yet that she'd given a second cup to Beast Boy. "Do you believe that the performing of the meditation is calming to the mind?"

Raven nodded. "Yes, it can help."

"Do you, then, think that it may ease the troubles of the subconscious?"

Raven looked directly at her teammate. "You're asking if it could help with the nightmares?"

"Correct."

Raven thought a moment to herself. She had meditated a lot the day before, but it had done nothing to hold the nightmares at bay. She had however, awoken to less destruction of her own doing. Perhaps that was thanks to the meditation.

"I'm not sure," she admitted.

"May we try?" asked the alien girl, her desperation seeping slightly into her plea.

Raven nodded, put down her nearly finished tea, and then walked over to the couch where Starfire sat. She sat down beside her and then got into her usual position. Starfire, having meditated with Raven experimentally a couple times before, copied her position wordlessly.

Raven fell into her usual mantra with ease, muttering the words in a rhythm as natural to her as breathing, and Starfire followed suit. They were minutes into the session before Raven realized there were more than just two voices present. She opened one eye to find both Beast Boy and Cyborg at the far end of the couch.

They were in much sloppier versions of the meditation position, and their expressions were rather forced and uncomfortable, much the opposite of the peaceful exercise they were attempting. Raven could hardly believe that they were actually trying to meditate, but she was reluctant to bring attention to it. As long as she left them to do what they believed to be meditation, they couldn't annoy her and break her own concentration. Besides, it was – what was the word – _nice _to see them trying; even if it was is absolute desperation.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos," she continued, he mantra unbroken even through her unexpected discovery. It was a very long time before their meditation was finally broken, and when it was, it came as no surprise to Raven as to what was the cause.

Beast Boy was crumpled forward with his legs still awkwardly crossed, having fallen asleep in the last couple of minutes. A pool of drool was beginning to form where his mouth hung open, along with increasingly louder snoring. Raven flicked her eyes to find that Cyborg was in almost the same position, with his eyes nearly closed. He was just hanging onto the last of his consciousness.

Raven cleared her throat and Cyborg's eyes shot open again.

"I'm awake, I'm awake!" he said in near panic, calming down as he realized where he was. "Oh man," he groaned moments later, "I really thought I was starting to get the hang of it." Raven rolled her eyes.

"It takes years of intense concentration and focus to master the art of meditation," she said blankly.

At this point Starfire had stopped her own mantra and opened her eyes to look at the scene before her. "I do feel much calmer. This is a good sign, yes?" she asked happily. Raven nodded at her, the only notion of encouragement she allowed.

"Is calm the same thing as sleepy? Cause if it is, I'm pretty sure I'm as calm as a guy can get," said Cyborg mid-yawn. Raven didn't answer him, but instead rolled her eyes once again.

"Friend Beast Boy will not awake pleasantly, will he?" asked Starfire, her concern now focused on the sleeping figure beside her.

"I doubt it," answered Raven, a slight frown tugging down the corner of her lips.

"What will happen when he awakes? This is not a good place for him to be if he wakes badly. Should we do something?"

She was right. If he were to wake up like Raven had the first time, his powers could be nearly as destructive as her own, and in a place like their living room where most of their important equipment was lying around, it was dangerous to leave him there alone. It was much safer for him to be in his own filthy room, where it could hardly make a difference if he woke up in a destructive rampage. None of the rest of her teammates could move him, but perhaps she could with her telekinetic powers.

Suddenly, the corner of his mouth began twitching, and his eyebrow became furrowed. His nightmares were starting already.

Raven sighed and got to her feet. "You're right, we can't leave sleeping beauty here. I'll deal with him," she said, already encasing the green figure in dark energy and lifting him into the air. As a reflex she nearly flexed her wrist and threw him across the room, but reminded herself just in time that she was only transporting the changeling. "Old habits die hard," she thought to herself.

Guiding the crumpled figure ahead of her, Raven left the living room and headed down the hall, occasionally having to sidestep to miss the globs of drool that where now falling from above.

"Where's an umbrella when you need one?" she grumbled into the silence.

Upon reaching his room, Raven swiftly opened the door with her free hand – and instantly regretted it. A sizable cloud of stank came hurtling out the doorway, enveloping them both completely. Raven suddenly found herself gasping for air, but choking the more she did so. In her panic to cover her mouth and nose with her hands, she accidentally dropped Beast Boy to the ground with a loud _bang_.

Through her watering eyes she realized her mistake and quickly tried to summon more energy to pick the boy back up – but it was too late.

He was waking up.

Raven froze, the stank forgotten, and watched with wide eyes. Beast Boy normally woke up slowly, stretching out each limb individually, much like a cat –sometimes he woke up as one, as well – but that was not the case this time.

He shot up, his eyes filled with something that was not at all like Beast Boy; it was something more primal.

"No more!" he cried out, jumping to his feet looking dazed and confused. "Not again!"

"Beast Boy," said Raven as calmly as she could, though her hands were in position to defend herself if need be. Those two words instantly became a mistake. Beast Boy's foreign eyes locked onto her like he identified his target, and before she had time to add in anything else, he was lunging at her in the form of a tiger.

Raven sent a blast of energy directly at the animal just as its teeth were about to reach her neck, hurling the beast straight into his own room. Before he even had time to get back to is feet and try for a second attack, Raven yanked the door shut and held it closed with a seal of her own energy.

That didn't seem to stop him from trying his very best to escape. She felt where he was flinging his body against the door and her own energy, and she felt the various shapes he was taking in attempt to muscle his way through. Each blow against her wall pushed her further, and it wasn't long before she was sweating with the effort to contain him.

"AUGH!" she cried, gritting her teeth. "Beast Boy, you have to stop!" But there was no sign of the message getting through to him, the blows persisted.

"Beast Boy, stop!" she tried again, but still nothing. She knew she would just have to wait him out, and prayed that she could outlast him. She reached for her communicator but remembered in disappointment that she'd left in in the living room, on the other side of the tower, where no one was likely to hear this.

Luckily, Beast Boy seemed to tire out as quickly as she did. The blows came slower and less frequent as the minutes when by, and Raven was able to use the short breaks to fortify her wall of dark energy.

Not long after, the attacks stopped all together. She waited hesitantly for a few minutes, suspecting a ruse, but when none came, let down the wall and let out a breath of relief.

"Beast Boy?" she asked slowly.

A small voice came through the wall, as if he was struggling to speak. "Raven?" he said.

"Are you… yourself?" she asked.

"Um, yeah, I-I think so," he replied, if a little unsure. Raven opened the door with a light touch of her hand and found the green boy standing on the other side, his head hung low and eyes looking shamefully at the ground. She peered inside to find his room in disarray, but she was unable to determine whether it was any worse than usual. The doorway did have intimidating claw marks scratched all across it, however, and she shuddered to think that could have been her.

"How do you feel?" she asked again, feeling rather awkward.

He shrugged, still unable to meet her eyes. "I dunno," he replied, "I've been better, I guess." He glanced up quickly to meet her eyes before looking back down, but in that moment she thought she saw real pain in his eyes, something that was strange to see in the otherwise carefree hero.

"But, um," he continued, "I think they – the dreams, I mean – might be getting worse."

Raven nodded in understanding. "I thought so," she said. There was an uncomfortable silence as neither knew what to say next and Beast Boy still couldn't lift his eyes off the floor.

Until he finally asked, "So, what are we gonna do now?"

Raven thought for a moment, trying to think of a new course of action. This was normally Robin's job, and since her last suggestion was thrown out the window, she struggled for an answer. Eventually she saw only one possible, if tedious, course of action.

"Your opinion on my 'dusty old textbooks' hasn't changed, has it? Because I think we're going to need to spend a little more quality time reading through them," she concluded.

Beast Boy raised his head and whatever strange emotion that was still left over from his awakening was replaced with one more well known to Raven. "Why did I even ask?" he said, hitting himself on the head. Raven almost smiled. Almost. And only because Beast Boy was hitting himself.

Twenty minutes later the two were sitting at the living room table with a stack of leather bound books. Upon seeing the two enter with the load of texts, both Starfire and Cyborg excused themselves, conveniently realizing simultaneously that they had important business to attend to. Raven knew that they feared heavy reading about as much as Beast Boy, and would do their very best not to get stuck helping with the research.

"Dude, this is so much worse than the nightmare," said Beast Boy, rubbing his eyes which were growing progressively darker with the lack of sleep.

"Keep complaining and I'd be happy to knock you out again," she threatened, but something in the way that Beast Boy winced made her make a mental note to not joke about what waited for them in the unconscious.

Beast Boy scratched the top of his head. "Um, remind me again what we're looking for?"

"I'll say it one last time," began Raven for what felt like the fifteenth explanation that night, "We know from the poem and how the dreams are progressing that the Boogieman practices a dark magic involving the subconscious at that it's a type of magic that requires no incantation. Robin's pretty sure the curse came from powder in one of his bags, and that he had different kinds that we haven't even seen yet. Basically that leaves us with looking for any branch of dark magic that adheres to those specifications. If we find anything that sounds like it we'll try tracing that back to where he might have come from, giving us a better idea on how to catch him."

The heroine was reading as she spoke and only looked up at the end of her short speech to find Beast Boy's eyes glassed over, completely dumbfounded.

She sighed deeply to herself, beginning to feel a headache coming on. "Just let me know if you read anything that sounds like what happened to us, okay?"

Beast Boy grinned and nodded. "Oh, I get it! Why didn't you just say so?"

Raven just stared at him, fighting an internal battle not to tear his head off. After she cooled down, she was able to return her attention to the book that lay in front of her.

She skimmed quickly now, having a general idea of what she was looking for, and finished looking through the gigantic book within the hour. As she reached for the next book she glanced over at Beast Boy and discovered him less than a few pages. In closer inspection she saw his mouth moving slightly – he was actually sounding out the words.

"What are you doing?" she deadpanned.

Beast Boy looked up as if startled. He had obviously been immersed in his struggle to decipher the novel.

"Eh, reading? That's what I was supposed to do, right?"

"Well, yes, but–" she said, "–are you reading every word over a hundred times?"

"What are you talking about?"

"It's taken you an hour to get through three pages."

"Well it's not exactly light reading!" he argued, visibly offended by her observation. "Look you're not even that far ahead of me!" He pointed to the page Raven now had open.

"This is my second book," she deadpanned and Beast Boy's face fell hard. She let out an exhausted breath of air and spoke again, "Look, you don't need to do this," she said, offering him an out.

The temptation seemed to tantalize Beast Boy, but for some reason he still shook his head. "No, I wanna help. The faster we catch this Boogerman the better, right?"

"It's the _Boogieman_, and it would be faster if I just did this myself," Raven noted, not intending to hurt Beast Boy's feeling but managing it anyways.

His expression turned frustrated. "It's not like I'm slowing you down," he said.

"Actually," she said, looking up from her page with annoyance at his pestering, "you are."

Suddenly, Beast Boy slammed his book shut. "Why do you _always_ have to do that?" he asked, his voice raising in volume. "Why do you always have to put me down when I'm just trying to help?"

"Maybe if you were actually being helpful, I wouldn't have to," she answered bitterly.

"AUGH! Can you try being a human being for like five seconds, Raven? It's like you want people to think that you're a heartless half-demon!" he yelled back, getting up from the table.

Raven felt the sting of his last comment, knowing just how much truth his words held for her. "At least I'm not some moronic grass stain that has nothing more to offer other than bad jokes and a loud mouth," she retorted through gritted teeth. In her anger, something broke in the background, but neither turned to see what it was.

"I'm so out of here," spat Beast Boy, turning on his heels and stalking out the door. "Have fun being alone in the dark with your _dusty old books_ all night! Oh wait, _you will_," he called as he reached the door.

Raven used her powers to give the changeling a solid push out the doorway so that he landed on his backside in the hallway, and then slammed the door behind him. "Don't let the door hit you on your way out," she hissed sarcastically under her breath.

After a minute of calming down so as to not break anything else, Raven got up from her seat to see what had broken in their fight. She found the shattered mug that she had given Beast Boy earlier that night. She quickly swept it up with magic and dropped it into the trash can.

She then returned to her seat at the table and opened back up to the page she'd been on, but found herself too angry to focus on reading.

She didn't mean to be so demeaning and so… herself, but it was a habit that she was unable to rid herself of. And her lack of sleep might have made her more grouchy than usual, which may have been the reason she had antagonized her teammate with her harsh words in the first place. But that did not, however, make her feel any sympathy towards Beast Boy. Not after all things he said. His words had hurt her in a way that she tried not to acknowledge They had taken some of the things she was most ashamed of and thrown them back in her face. She was most of all ashamed of what she was: the spawn of a terrible demon, and knew because of that she would never be fully excepted in her world.

No, she couldn't forgive him for saying that. Not while she couldn't forgive the fact that what he said had been the truth.

She shook her head, trying to physically clear all of the thoughts that were making her emotionally unstable, and then went back to what she did best: reading her dusty old textbooks.

* * *

**Oooh, the tensions are rising! **

**I do have to give you all a fair warning that it will probably be at least a couple weeks before the next chapter is up, as I'm about to leave for over seas where I'll have very limited access to a computer.**

**Until then, any feedback is very much appreciated!**


	6. Trauma After Training

**Hello my wonderful readers!**

**I guess I should start by profusely apologizing for having taken so long to update. In brief, after having my luggage (with my computer) lost by the airlines for three weeks I had almost no time to write before going off to my next couple of trips. I've been so busy I've hardly had time to sit down and write. But, hey, I finally did it!**

**Before we get to the story I'd like to say a quick thank you to Tsukita for being so supportive and encouraging through this story! :) It really helps!**

**Also, I should probably worn all the BBRae fans out there that this chapter will be more RobStar centric, but I promise the next chapter will make up for it!**

**And now we get to the story:**

* * *

Starfire awoke to the feeling of hot tears rolling down her cheeks. The intensity of her nightmares had reached a level that she was no longer able to stand. It all felt too real – too raw – and was such a direct hit to a wound that she didn't even realize was still there. But it was still there, and it _hurt_.

She slid out of her bed and walked over to her mirror, looking closely at the image that reflected back. Her eyes were worn and circled from her poor sleep, but that was not what struck her mind. What she thought of, as she peered into the glass, was how much she looked like someone else; and yet she didn't. They were so similar, and yet Starfire knew they were not quite the same. She was another version of that girl in her nightmare, and a tiny voice in the back of her mind told her she was not the improved version.

Starfire shook her head slowly. "I-I am not her," she said to her reflection, her voice tiny and weak. "I shall always come second," she added, another stream of tears falling down her cheeks. The salty tears ran down her face into the corners of her mouth and suddenly she realized how much she hated their taste. They tasted of bitterness and hatred, and she couldn't stomach such emotions. She wiped away the wetness with the back of her hand and backed away from the mirror.

"However," she said, her voice gaining back some of its strength, "I refuse to partake in the feeling sorry for oneself," and with one final disapproving glance at her own reflection, she shot a bolt of energy at the mirror, shattering it, and the sorry image upon in, to pieces.

She hurried herself to get ready, wanting to get out of her room and away from her thoughts quickly, but not daring to let her teammates she her as distraught as she guessed she might appear. When she was finally ready, she rushed out of the room and down the hallway so fast that she almost collided with a clearly perturbed Raven just as she was seemingly escaping her own room.

Starfire stopped herself just in time to escape the outward explosion of Raven's bedroom door as it was flung against the opposite wall by some of her dark magic. With it came a severely tired and frazzled Raven, hair sticking out in all directions and face looking paler than ever.

"Friend Raven," said Starfire, surprised, "Is something not right? Do you require assistance?" Raven whipped her head around to face her teammate.

"W-what? No!" she half shouted, startling Starfire. Realizing how she must of sounded, the dark teenager took a deep breath, and struggled to smooth down her hair with shaking hands. "I-I mean, no thanks. I'm fine."

"Forgive me," began the alien hesitantly, "but you do not _appear_ to be 'fine'. Did you perchance have another–" but she was cut off by the unmistakable sound of something shattering from within the room. Starfire's eyes shot to the crack of space left open at the door frame, and was shocked to find what small portion she could see of her comrade's room as filthy as she might expect of Beast Boy's. Clothes, books, and other various things were strewn across the floor. With the gigantic mess, Raven's state of being, and the crashing noise, Starfire found herself what seemed to be an obvious conclusion. "Raven! There is an intruder in your room!" she whispered hastily, "Perhaps it is the Boogieman! Quickly! Let us go now and catch the villainous thief!" She made a move to go through the open door frame but just before her fingers reached through the space, the door was magicked back into place and slammed shut by Raven.

"There's no intruder," her friend snapped.

Starfire, baffled, stared at her friend with wide eyes. "B-but your room – and the crashing noise–"

"That was me," Raven interrupted with a slight growl of self disappointment. "The nightmares don't exactly _agree_ with my powers."

"Oh," Starfire said, suddenly feeling rather uncomfortable. "May I be of help to you in any way?"

"Not likely," the other girl replied with a bitter edge in her voice. "Unless you've somehow found a cure?"

The red head shook her head sadly. "I am sorry, I know nothing of a cure." But suddenly a thought occurred to her: she hadn't seen Robin since yesterday, and he had seemed pretty intent on finding the Boogieman. "Maybe Robin has had luck where we have not! Let us go find him!"

Spirits lightened, the cheerful teen grabbed her friend too tightly by the arm and flew down the hall, quite literally dragging the other behind her.

"Ugh! Too tight!" gasped Raven in surprise, but Starfire seemed not to hear.

In no time the two reached the main room, where Starfire quickly spotted Robin hunched over his computer. Letting out a squeak of delight, she flew to him, dropping her friend in her excitement. Grumbling to herself and nursing the soon-to-be bruise on the top of her head, Raven pushed herself up and headed to the kitchen to find the teapot. Needless to say she was starting her day on the wrong side of the bed.

On the other side of the room Starfire had reached Robin and was now making a concentrated effort to draw him from his work.

"Robin, please," she was saying, "will you not 'pour the peas' as they say? Is there any news of the villainous Boogieman?"

Robin made no effort to remind her the saying was to "spill the beans," and would have preferred not to answer all together thanks to his sour mood, but knowing Starfire the quickest way to peace was to give her what she wanted. In this case: an answer.

"No," he muttered darkly, not taking his eyes off the screen – where they'd been since earlier last night.

Starfire frowned. "But how can that be? He must be somewhere," she said.

"There's nothing new," he answered again, this time with some irritation.

"Perhaps you may have missed something? I would be most happy to help you look for–"

"I SAID THERE'S NOTHING!" Robin shouted, finally spinning in his seat to face his startled teammate. One look at his face and Starfire knew something was wrong. His eyes were sullen and exhausted looking, with misplaced anger disfiguring his entire expression.

For a few moments the room was dead silent, with Robin and Starfire's gazes locked on each other and Raven listening from the kitchen, before something finally flickered through Robin's eyes. Regret, maybe?

"Look," said Robin, slightly calmer but still with none of his usual demeanor, "This guy is better than we thought, and obviously is only going to come out of hiding if it's on his own terms. So whenever and wherever that is, we need to be prepared. We can't afford to let him slip through our fingers again."

"You believe us to be ill-prepared?" asked Starfire tentatively.

"Very," he replied, frowning. He then got up from his seat and addressed both Starfire and Raven. "Ten minutes from now I expect the team to be on the training field ready to drill. Make sure Beast Boy and Cyborg know," he added before briskly making a beeline for the door to the hall, giving neither girl any indication of his destination.

Starfire and Raven stared at the door a short while before the tea kettle went off, scaring them both back to reality. As Raven poured herself the tea Starfire spoke up.

"Should I then go and awaken friends Beast Boy and Cyborg?" she asked, visibly less cheerful than when they'd first arrived in the room.

Raven had her stare fixed on nothingness, thinking as she sipped her cup. She replied, "I'll get Cyborg if you'll get tofu-for-brains."

Starfire nodded and headed for the door. She sensed that there was an abnormal amount of tension between Raven and Beast Boy for the moment – after all, it wasn't like the gothic teen to insult someone so early in the morning without at least a little provoking – but did not press for an answer. For some reason reconciliation between team members was proving to be harder than usual the past few days.

Just as she reached the doors she called over her shoulder to her friend. "Robin only stressed, yes? He will be back to normal when we catch this Boogieman?"

Raven glanced up at the red haired girl, realizing what Robin's attitude must be doing to her feelings. For at close as those two were, Robin seemed to forget quite often how much Starfire cared for him, and how his negativity hurt her. Lately all the boys in the tower were acting more idiotically than usual.

She nodded once, and replied, "Of course. Everyone will go back normal when this is all over." Starfire didn't realize as her friend spoke, that it wasn't the spikey haired leader she was referring to, but instead a much smaller, greener teammate.

Starfire smiled to herself. "Yes, I know I am only being silly," she said softly. "I will see you on the training grounds?"

Raven only offered a small nod, her thoughts elsewhere, and hardly noticed the opening or closing of the door as she was left to herself.

Five minutes later Raven had pulled herself from her head and had made her way down to Cyborg's room, only to realize he wasn't there. Figuring the only place left for him to hide was the garage, she then phased down through several floors and stopped at the entrance of his workshop, where the sounds of metal things crashing around could be heard.

She knocked on the door, slightly concerned by the loud crashing noises inside. They instantly stopped at the sound of her knocking.

"Who's there?" came the voiced of a seriously stressed Cyborg.

"Raven."

"Whadya want?"

Raven cocked an eyebrow. What was up with everyone's mood today? It was like it was freaking Gloomsday or something.

Absentmindedly she wondered if this was how she normally sounded to her teammates.

"A little less hostile attitude would be nice," she deadpanned back.

She heard a huff of breath and footsteps on the other side of the door which then whooshed open. Cyborg stood on the other side, looking as tired as his other comrades, rubbing the back of his head with his flesh hand. Inside, Raven spied pieces of metal and mechanical junk tossed around the floor.

He let out a deep breath and looking down at his friend. "Sorry, Raven, didn't mean to give ya the cold shoulder or anything, it's just that I'm a little –"

"Stressed," Raven finished for him. "Trust me, we all are."

"Yeah," he replied, now rubbing his eyes. "So what did ya need me for?"

"Up for a healthy dose of stress relief?"

He grinned down at Raven, but some of his usual vigor was missing. "Great idea," he said.

"Bad idea, Raven, bad idea!" yelled Cyborg just fifteen minutes after they'd left the room. In that short amount of time they'd both reached the training field, been briefed by Robin on what the day's training regime would cover, and thrown into practice – or at least that's what Robin called it. It felt a lot more like survival of the fittest: extreme edition.

"Seriously man," Cyborg called up to their team leader, who had just hurdled over a projectile boulder that had come dangerously close to flattening him against the ground, "don't you think we could turn this down just a notch?"

"We'll take a break once the Boogieman is caught, until then we can't afford to rest," replied the Boy Wonder just as he disappeared behind a concrete slab that had just burst from the ground, aimed directly at Raven. She avoided it with a quick twist to the right – it occurred to her that she was on the defensive an awful lot today – and looked around to see how the rest of her teammates were performing with their serious lack of sleep.

Cyborg was blasting his sonic canon at anything and everything that crossed his path, and unfortunately missing most of his marks. She noticed his reaction time was slower than usual, but thankfully just fast enough to keep this training exercise less than life threatening – mostly.

Starfire wasn't doing much better. Her accuracy had taken a hit today as well, with many of her bolts hitting just shy of their marks. She was visibly more erratic in her movements, a dose of her normal grace somehow unaccounted for.

Even their fearless leader seemed slightly off his game. His attacks, while possible more aggressive than normal, lacked some of his trademark strength.

Beast Boy, however, was a different story.

He was performing better than ever. His reflexes, agility, and attack seemed to all have improved over night. He was focused (Raven didn't even know he_ could _focus) and a force to be reckoned with. Lack of sleep aside, it was like he was a whole new Beast Boy. He was a predator on the prowl, a beast even.

Raven froze, mind placing two and two together at last.

_A beast._ These dreams were making Beast Boy lose control to his Beast again.

In her frozen state, she didn't see the second pillar of concrete shoot up at her until it was too late. With the force of a train, the stone slammed into the teen, driving her into the ground. Just as she landed she was able to put up a protective barrier, keeping the accident from becoming fatal.

"Raven!" sounded several concerned voices from around the area. Her friends rushed to her side, Robin pausing the simulation for the time being.

"Raven! Are you uninjured?" Starfire fretted, offering her hand.

Ignoring her friends outstretched arm, Raven pushed herself up to a sitting position with some difficulty, and looked for Beast Boy. She found him still some feet away, on the outside of the group.

"I'm fine," she replied hastily, not taking her eyes off the changeling, "but I'm not sure if Beast Boy is."

Beast Boy flicked a hostile glare in Raven's direction.

"What are you talking about?" asked a confused Robin, "Beast Boy's on the top of his game."

"I-I just–" Raven hesitated. She didn't necessarily want to tell her teammates of her suspicions if it meant angering Beast Boy even further. "I can just sense that something's wrong."

"Just because _you're_ a sore loser doesn't mean you can blame it on someone else," huffed Beast Boy, taking a step toward her with a face of resentment.

"Excuse me?" he asked back, her eyebrows raised to a dangerous height.

"Oh come on, Raven. Admit it. You're peeved that I'm a better fighter than you for once."

"I won't admit something that isn't true," she growled back.

"Friend, please–" interjected Starfire, who's expression of unease matched that of Cyborg and Robin's. She was ignored.

He took another step closer. "No, you won't admit it 'cause you hate to see me be better than you!"

"Okay, fine, whatever. I'll _admit_ that I'm 'peeved' that you have less of a brain than I originally gave you credit for."

"Raven–" said Robin, but he wasn't given a chance to continue as Beast Boy pushed past him. He was dangerously close now.

"Since when did _you _ever give me credit for anything?"

The two glared at each other, and a low growl started to rise somewhere deep inside of Beast Boy. Raven took a long look at him. His physical features had somehow transformed over night. The body of the happy, relaxed, goofy boyish-teen had been taken over by someone older, and meaner. He was already backtracking to the state he'd been in last time the Beast was released.

She took a breath and tried to cool her temper, and then spoke slowly but deliberately. "I've always given you credit for _maintaining control_." She paused for a moment to let her words sink it, and then continued. "But maybe I was wrong," she said in a low voice.

Her words seemed to somewhat get through to Beast Boy. He didn't reply for some time, a series of thoughts seeming to flicker through his head. Eventually, he simply spun around and started stalking back towards the tower.

"So much for trying not to get him angry," thought Raven to herself.

"Beast Boy!" Robin called, "training isn't over!"

"Whatever, dude," called back Beast Boy, "I'm done. Maybe you should worry a little more about yourself ."

Robin's face fell into an expression of frustration. "What's wrong with him?" he asked aloud once the changeling was out of ear-shot.

Raven spoke up, "I think he's starting to lose control."

Cyborg raised his one good eyebrow. "Are you trying to tell me he's gonna turn into that giant, furry, green thing again?"

She nodded solemnly.

"And you think the nightmares are responsible?" asked Robin.

Raven nodded again.

Robin rubbed his chin in thought. "For now, I guess the only thing we can really do is keep an eye on him. To make sure he stays in control of himself," he offered finally.

"You can count me out of baby sitting duty," deadpanned Raven, pushing herself off from the ground. As it was now, if she were to see the green teen ever again it would be too soon.

"I've actually got to agree with you there," replied the leader, "I don't think it's good for Beast Boy's health to have you two in close proximity right now." He then turned to face Cyborg. "How 'bout you, Cy? Think you could take the first shift?"

Cyborg shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe some good old video games can get him out of his funk," he answered.

"Good idea," Robin replied, "in the meantime Starfire, Raven, and I will finish the training course." Both girl's faces lost color with the promise of a round two.

As the half-bot made his way back to the tower, Robin switched back on the obstacle course, and the three remaining titans went back to fighting seemingly for their lives.

Hours later, the training ended only when it was about to end Starfire for what might have been the fourth time.

Suspended in mid air by a spider web specifically engineered by Robin to catch his flying teammates, she was left unable to move her exhausted muscles, and unfortunately unable to get out of the way of a laser that was slowly inching closer and closer to her body. Squealing in terror, she tried prying her arms from the strange contraption, only to find that her struggle made her even more securely stuck.

She squeezed her eyes shut just at the laser was centimeters from slicing her in half and then –

Nothing.

The alien girl popped an eye open to find the laser had been shut off, along with everything else. Without the power to sustain it, the web released Starfire and she fell to the ground, landing right on her backside.

"Ow," she grunted to herself, rubbing the already sore spot where she'd fallen. She'd just at that to the list of bruises she's obtained today.

Robin, remote control to the course in hand, was already standing behind her.

"I-I am sorry… again," she apologized to the leader.

The spikey haired teen did not face her but instead looked somewhere on the ground.

"That's the third time we've had to stop in the past twenty minutes," he said with clear agitation. Whether the frustration was directed at her, Starfire did not know.

"Clearly we're not making any more progress, so let's just give it a rest for the day," he continued. "See you in the tower." Without another word or even a glance in her direction Robin headed for the tower, leaving Starfire in the dust.

Just then Raven materialized right beside her, having finally made it back from the opposite end of the course.

"He's not upset with you," the gothic teen told her, having caught the last of what Robin was saying and guessing what Starfire would have heard behind his words.

"Do you think so?"

Raven nodded. "He's only angry with himself," she added.

Starfire looked quizzically at her friend, not quite believing her. "Why?"

The other girl shrugged. "Not sure," she replied.

Both girls watched their leader as he disappeared through the front entrance into the tower, his gait rushed and fists clenched.

Starfire knew something was wrong, and she was going to figure out what.

Starfire was only a short distance behind as Robin disappeared into his room, and she gave him less than a minute of peace before knocking.

"Who is it?" came a less than enthusiastic greeting.

"It is me who seeks entrance," she called back.

He seemed to hesitate before opening the door, it taking more time than usual to slide open.

"Did you need something, Star?" he asked wearily.

"I, ehm, felt that a discussion of our feelings would be beneficial," she admitted, and watched as the color immediately drained from his face. As he began stuttering, clearly unable to find words, Starfire decided to add, "You are frustrated, are you not?"

Robin, still visibly uncomfortable, ushered Starfire inside and slid the door shut behind her. "I guess a little, sure," he eventually replied.

"Are you frustrated at me?" she asked again, in a much smaller voice this time. She suddenly found it very difficult to face him; her gaze dropped to the floor.

Robin furrowed his eyebrows, and placed a gloved hand on her shoulder. "What? Why would you say that?" he asked in a cautious voice.

Starfire gripped her own hands even tighter. "I fought poorly today… I held back the team," she muttered.

Robin tried to meet her eyes, but she refused to raise hers. "None of us, well except Beast Boy I guess, fought well today. Besides, one bad day doesn't make you a bad hero," he offered.

She allowed a small smile, but still didn't raise her head, so Robin went on. "Star, you wouldn't be here if I didn't think you were one of the best fighters out there." He meant it kindly, but for some reason Starfire's smile instantly vanished, and Robin puzzled over what he could said wrong.

"What if I am not the best fighter?" she replied.

"What?"

"What if there is another, better version of me out there?"

"What are you talking about?" asked Robin, confused yet again. When she did not answer, he pressed on, "Starfire, tell me what's wrong."

"It's my dreams…" she began, steeling the tiniest of glances up at her friend, and then changed her mind, "Oh, I'm being so silly, forgive me."

"It's okay," Robin said, squeezing her shoulder slightly, "you can tell me."

Starfire took a deep breath. "I-I have been seeing Blackfire in my dreams. And in my sleep I watch her take what is mine. My identity, my role on the team, a-and… my friends. And she is so much better than me when she does so. A better hero; a better friend…" A single tear fell down her cheek and the alien girl quickly wiped it away. "It is not that I think myself to be unimportant, but that I am only second to my sister. I fear that I will never be as strong, or beautiful, or as smart as she is."

There was a brief pause in which neither teen said anything, but finally Robin seemed to find the right words. "Star, listen to me. You will never come second to your sister." He took his hand off her shoulder and used it to gently cup her chin so she would look at him. "You are stronger, smarter, kinder, and _more beautiful_ that she will ever be, and there is no one I'd rather have on this team." He smiled kindly down at her and wiped away the final tear that slipped down her cheek.

She smiled back up at him, and meant it. She trusted him to always speak the truth, and she believed in his words.

"Thank you, Robin. You are a greater friend than I could ever have hoped to have," she said softly. He nodded back.

It took a few moments of them quietly standing for the Boy Wonder to realize how close to each other they were. Upon that realization, he quickly tensed up.

"Eh, I think I'm going to go see what repairs need to be made to the training course for practice tomorrow," he suddenly blurted out. He scrambled for the door with a brief, "I'll see you later," leaving Starfire to puzzle the strange irrational behavior all teenage boys seemed to have.

She, too, exited the room and headed in the direction of her own bedroom, feeling strangely much lighter on her feet. Almost as if a heavy weight had finally been taken off her shoulders.

She was so taken by the giddy feeling that it would be hours before she realized that in her confession and comfort Robin had somehow gotten out of telling her why he was upset.

When she finally entered her room she walked right up to the shattered pieces that once were her mirror and peered in the largest intact shard. What she saw was her own unique reflection and nothing more.

* * *

**A quick note: It might take another another couple of weeks or so again for the next update, thanks to my crazy summer schedule, but I do promise a future update whenever I get the chance!**

**And again, all feedback is greatly appreciated!**


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